No One Should Have To Deal With The Racist Tweets Ghostbusters’ Leslie Jones Is Receiving

19 July 2016, 12:55 | Updated: 8 May 2017, 17:09

By Nicky Idika

@adulthumanbeing

The world officially sucks.

Ghostbusters has been a long time coming. The female led reboot was announced last spring and, since then, nerd boys everywhere have been preparing themselves for the day of reckoning. Ghostbusters opened this month to generally positive reviews and the purists are still trying to sabotage the film's performance. Talk about people with a lot of time on their hands.

Unfortunately, talented actress/comedian, Leslie Jones has been caught up in the drama and is the subject of some of the most racist, sexist, vile Twitter abuse possible. And Twitter has done absolutely nothing to stop it.

This is Leslie Jones.

She's very cool, very funny and very much an SNL cast member. She has been doing comedy since 1987 and she probably didn't predict that her meteoric rise to fame would come in the form of an all girl Ghostbusters reboot.

Fast forward to July, and the abuse Leslie is dealing with could make even the most seasoned twitter user cringe in sheer disbelief.

In the past, Twitter has promised to "do better" to take threats and abuse more seriously and to tackle trolls. So, why, oh why, is Leslie Jones having to put up with this? For a full day, Leslie retweeted racist abuse to highlight the sheer volume of the messages she was receiving.

I just don't understand pic.twitter.com/N9xWoXPttu
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016

The vile racist shit being thrown at @Lesdoggg rn is making me wanna set shit on fire. Why is @twitter @Support not doing their job?!
— Majka (@majken_aune) July 18, 2016

I'm exposing you suck mfs pic.twitter.com/WLzRzE92RV
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016

All Leslie did to deserve this was star in a film. And now she can't log on to her twitter account without being bombarded by hundreds of messages calling her an "ape" and disparaging her appearance.

So, when does it end. When does Twitter start blocking IP addresses instead of emails and usernames? If Twitter say they're so serious about tackling the problem off trolls, why does Leslie Jones have to experience this because she dared to succeed in her chosen profession?

Obviously the people behind this are pitiable losers, but @twitter still needs to crack down on them HARD https://t.co/Anlx8gWXum
— Michael Moran (@TheMichaelMoran) July 19, 2016

So @Support are you doing anything with the targeted racist and sexist harassment of Leslie Jones on here or nah?
— Lisa Bolekaja (@LisaBolekaja) July 18, 2016

There are hateful, racist, disgusting tweets being sent to Leslie Jones @Lesdoggg. What can you do @Twitter @Support? We need to stop this
— Àfzàl (@afzalALMIGHTY) July 18, 2016

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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

Leslie shouldn't have to scream and shout to be heard by Twitter support. Some of the accounts who were tweeting the vitriol had their accounts suspended for 2 hours before being allowed back on the platform. If we're expected to believe someone has learned their lesson after a two hour suspension, then I guess we're also expected to believe Twitter is doing anything to stop this culture.