The Ghostbusters reboot has been hit with its fair share of internet attacks, and director Paul Feig continues to say: Enough.
Speaking up against people on social media who are personally attacking one of his stars, Leslie Jones, the director of the reboot quickly had the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ trending on Monday night.
“Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know,” he tweeted. “Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg”
Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 18, 2016
After Feig’s message, #LoveForLeslieJ sat near the top of Twitter’s trending list as others in Hollywood followed Feig’s lead, including the film’s co-writer Katie Dippold (see below).
Jones, who has taken to Twitter to decry the sexist attacks she’s received on social media before, fought back by retweeting many of the racist and misogynistic posts she’d received on Monday.
“Exposing I hope y’all go after them like they going after me,” she tweeted Monday afternoon. She then followed that tweet with hours of reshared posts she’s received.
Jones’ tweeting continued well into the night, with the actress calling on Twitter to delete and block several of the accounts, seemingly to no avail. “I didn’t do anything to deserve this,” she said.
Twitter I understand you got free speech I get it. But there has to be some guidelines when you let spread like that. You can see on the
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
I feel like I’m in a personal hell. I didn’t do anything to deserve this. It’s just too much. It shouldn’t be like this. So hurt right now.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Profiles that some of these people are crazy sick. It’s not enough to freeze Acct. They should be reported.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
The day culminated in Jones quitting Twitter, telling her followers in a post: “I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.”
I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today…wrong
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Many #LoveForLeslieJ supporters called on Twitter to take action as they expressed outrage over Jones’ treatment on the social media site.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, even reached out to the star with a request to communicate via Direct Message.
@Lesdoggg Hi Leslie, following, please DM me when you have a moment
— Jack (@jack) July 19, 2016
Twitter then released the following statement on Tuesday:
“This type of abusive behavior is not permitted on Twitter, and we’ve taken action on many of the accounts reported to us by both Leslie and others. We rely on people to report this type of behavior to us but we are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to prevent this kind of abuse. We realize we still have a lot of work in front of us before Twitter is where it should be on how we handle these issues.”
Feig’s take on the 1984 classic — which also stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon as the Ghostbusters, along with Jones, in the Sony reboot — opened to an estimated $46 million in North America this past weekend.
See some of the social media reactions that are being shared in support of Jones below.
@Lesdoggg queen, wishing you well. Go through your process and hopefully you find peace. Don’t let them stop you!
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) July 19, 2016
I absolutely LOVE @Lesdoggg And so does everyone I know. I hope she can feel that right now x x x
— James Corden (@JKCorden) July 19, 2016
@Lesdoggg Simply, I love you
— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) July 19, 2016
The racist sick shit happening to @Lesdoggg is example A-Z of the worst that Twitter has to offer. @twitter Block these people!!!
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) July 18, 2016
Twitter once again makes us all have to state the obvious. #LoveforLeslieJ
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) July 19, 2016
I love @lesdoggg
Not only brilliant but one of the kindest people I’ve ever met— Katie Dippold (@katiedippold) July 18, 2016
The vile acts of racism and white fragility that @Lesdoggg is facing on her Twitter feed is absolutely disgusting. #America2016
— Matt McGorry (@MattMcGorry) July 18, 2016
Stand with @Lesdoggg #loveforlesliej she is an inspiration and a legend in the making pic.twitter.com/dqotlPAETd
— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) July 18, 2016
Hey, @twitter & @twittersupport: You need to head to @Lesdoggg‘s feed & start deleting the accounts of the racist shits spewing crap at her.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) July 18, 2016
PD & I met @Lesdoggg on a plane 3 years ago. She was unbelievably kind, funny & shone so bright, it was crystal clear that she’d be a star
— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 18, 2016
#LoveforLeslieJ All Day
— Olivia Munn (@oliviamunn) July 19, 2016
Unacceptable. You are so loved. Stand back up this morning and feel it. #LoveforLeslieJ https://t.co/w7K2X3x2Xw
— kaitlin olson (@kaitlin_olson) July 19, 2016
I love you @Lesdoggg. You are beautiful. And you are HILARIOUS. #LoveForLeslieJ
— Katie Lowes (@KatieQLowes) July 19, 2016
Just left @Ghostbusters and had SO MUCH FUN! That sequence in the smoke was everything!! #AnswerTheCall #GirlsKickingAss #LoveForLeslieJ
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) July 19, 2016
#LoveForLeslieJ. Keep your head up and shine mama! @Lesdoggg
— Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) July 19, 2016
I don’t know @Lesdoggg ,but I admire her incredible spirit +talent. We have to stand together #LoveForLeslieJ https://t.co/9TfBbXvlQ0
— Kristin Davis (@KristinDavis) July 19, 2016
.@Lesdoggg is hilarious and strong and beautiful and she will be back with a vengeance I can’t wait for you to see what she is capable of
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) July 19, 2016
July 19, 12 p.m. PT: Updated with Twitter’s statement
