'Ghostbusters' Star Leslie Jones Is Being Bullied On Twitter By Pathetic Man-Babies

Actress Leslie Jones is being harassed by racist, sexist Internet trolls who apparently cannot handle seeing a black woman in a comedy film about ghosts. Leslie Jones stars in the Ghostbusters remake as Patty Tolan. Eve Batey at our sister site, SFist, called the film "very, very funny." Our own reviewer, Peter Labuza, felt the film was "lackluster," save Kate McKinnon's performance. Regardless of how much one does or does not enjoy a comedic film, most people can agree that hurling insults at a person who appeared in it is a terrible use of time and energy. Labuza somehow managed to not love the film and not being a raging sexist at the same time! However, around the Internet, a bunch of dudes have been acting as though this film is a coup de grâce to their waning masculinity.

GamerGater and professional troll Milo Yiannopoulos, for instance, wrote a review of the film on conservative website Brietbart stating the following: "The beloved franchise from our childhood with a stake driven through its heart, head chopped off, body burned and buried at a crossroads."

Oh, wow, we didn't realize that on the premiere date of this new Ghostbusters some kind of anti-man-baby gestapo went around rounding up every existing copy of the old Ghostbusters and burned them in a giant pit! Oh, wait. They didn't, and you can still watch the 1984 version of the film basically any time you want, so, like, seriously, what is your problem?

While Jones is not alone in the backlash hurled at the film and her co-stars, her trolls have been being both sexist and racist. On Monday, Jones seemed to contemplate quitting Twitter entirely after spending a considerable amount of time combating Grade-A Dinguses such as the aforementioned Yiannopoulos and his assorted sycophants.

Jones was spammed with comments comparing her to gorillas and apes, lewd images and apparently one picture where someone had photoshopped semen onto her face. A casual scroll through Jones' timeline, on which she called out and retweeted some of the vitriol, shows people calling her Harambe—the gorilla that was fatally shot after a child fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. Director Paul Feig got his own barrage of hate when he defended Jones, the NY Times reports.

Someone else decided to make a bogus Twitter account masquerading as Jones. The account Tweeted out hateful messages full of slurs.

Jones ultimately left the social media platform disheartened.

She also chastised those who told her not to stoop to her tormenters' level, tweeting, "It's way past that. So please have a seat. Don't tell me how to react."

Twitter is a common breeding ground for hate, and has often been criticized for how it deals—or does not deal—with abuse. Jones is only one of several people who has called on Twitter for a better response to this kind of harassment. Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo even admitted last year that when it comes to harassment, "we suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform," via a company memo.

Jones tweeted about how Twitter needs guidelines for when situations like these arise, and Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted her back, asking her to DM him.

Twitter also released the following statement, according to CNet:

The hashtag #loveforLeslieJ has emerged in response, drawing people who are not flaming piles of excrement to express their concern and admiration for Jones. Jones, who, lest we forget, is a comedian and actress who simply appeared in a movie about ghosts.