‘Ghostbusters’ Star Leslie Jones Talks Twitter Harassment on ‘The Late Show’
After suffering a barrage of hateful, racist messages on Twitter thanks to her participation in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot, star Leslie Jones seemingly quit the social-media site over the weekend, only to return to it yesterday. Last night, she explained to Seth Meyers that she never meant for people to take her departure as permanent. (Watch the clip above.)
Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Saturday Night Live comedian clarified what exactly went down three days ago, when the below tweet led fans to believe she was forever exiting Twitter thanks to the intolerant slander of myriad online bigots.
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)
Jones said: “I did not leave Twitter. I didn’t leave. I just signed out, because I wanted to deal with what was going on. And then I went to bed, and I woke up the next morning, and I was like ‘They said I left Twitter! Wait! I didn’t leave!’”
As she told Meyers, what was really scary wasn’t that people didn’t like the new Ghostbusters — which tallied a middling $46 million at the box-office last weekend — or even her performance in it as Ghostbuster Pattie Tolan, but rather the sheer ugliness of the comments she received.
“What scared me was the injustice of a gang of people jumping against you for such a sick cause. I mean, it was like, everybody has an opinion, and it all comes at you at one time. And they really believe in what they believe in, and it’s so mean. Like, it’s so gross and mean, and unnecessary.””
By calling attention to these attacks, Jones helped motivate Twitter to ban numerous users, including Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos, whose savage review of the film was blamed for spearheading the anti-Jones charge. It was a necessary step, Jones said, because she loves Twitter, and had to let it be known (including to CEO Jack Dorsey) that it was being abused. “It’s like, that’s my favorite restaurant. I love the food there. Three people just got shot in front of me. Y’all need to get some security!”
Jones has since resumed Tweeting, including sending a big thank you to all of those who supported her, some of whose video messages of support were featured during her Late Show appearance.
Thanks for the love and support I received! made me feel real special See you later on @sethmeyers #LoveForLeslieJ pic.twitter.com/1SOU5QnhMQ
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg)
For her part, Jones summed up the incident aptly: “Hate speech and freedom of speech — two different things.”