Ghostbusters: Afterlifedelivered the Ghostbusters movie that many fans had been hoping for since 1989, but several years earlierdirector Paul Feigassembled a different team to answer the call in a reboot of the beloved franchise. However, the film wasnot exactly welcomed with open armsby either franchise fans or general cinemagoers, and one of its starts has opened up about the extent of the backlash that the movie received.
Leslie Jonesstarred in the 2016Ghostbusters rebootwith Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon, and recalls in her new biography,Leslie F*cking Jones: A Memoir(viaRolling Stone), the horrendous onslaught of racially motivated, threatening messages and comments she was subjected to following the release of the movie. The shared excerpt reads:
“That night of July 18 was horrible, though. I remember crying and thinking, This is the first time I had ever seen it so bad. How do y’all all get together to bully a person? It wasn’t as if I’d committed a crime or something — I was being bullied over a movie, over playing a part in a movie. (I can’t believe I have to say this out loud.)
The weakness of muthafkas amazes me. I cried not because I was being bullied, but because this is our world and because I can’t believe anyone would do this st to someone, anyone, for working. This is awful. I am in a movie. Death threats for something as small as that? The world was not as rosy as I’d hoped it was. But none of that s**t was about me.
But then that same night Kate McKinnon came over, we drank some wine, and I went on about my business.
Of all the women in Paul’s remake of the movie, I was the one who got taken through the ringer. I wonder why . . . Oh, right, because I was a Black girl. I was being sent films of being hanged, of white guys jacking off on my picture, saying, “You fucking n****r. We going to kill you.” Why are people being so evil to each other? How can you sit and type “I want to kill you.” Who does that?”
Related:Ernie Hudson Explains Why the Ghostbusters Reboot Fell Short with Fans
Leslie Jones Was Not Happy With Jason Reitman’s Comments.
Fans of any long-standing movie franchise will have plenty of opinions to share when it comes to reboots and remakes of classic films.Ghostbusters: Answer the Callwas always going to face an uphill struggle, seemingly piggybacking on the endearing nostalgia for the 1984 movie, its sequel and the animated TV series. However, the decision togender-swapthe four ‘busters and making that a big focal point of marketing prevented the film ever getting a fair crack of the whip with the majority of the fan base.
One person who seemingly riled up feelings about the reboot was Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman. Jones addressed Reitman’s comments about “giving the franchise back to the fans” with his movie, which in her book she describes as playing directly to the people who hurled abuse at her and the 2016 movie’s other stars. While Reitman later apologized for his comments, Jones believed that the harm was already done. She wrote:
“Bringing up the idea of giving the movie ‘back to the fans’ was a pretty clear shout-out to all those losers who went after us for making an all-female [movie].”
However, whatever grievances were held against the decisions behind the making of the movie, the level of online harassment suffered by Jones and other members of the cast for simply being taking a part in the film, only served to shine a light on how toxic the social media arena can get over matters that, in the grand scheme of things, are irrelevant. In the six years sinceGhostbusters: Answer the Callwas released, the level of online abuse against actors for doing nothing more than their job has not really abated. With social media being a mostly open area for anyone to say anything with only the minor threat of repercussions – unless you are a celebrity with dubious ten-year-old Tweets on your account – it is hard to see a time when this kind of abuse will no longer be an issue.
