It’s no secret that angry trolls have been harassing The Last of Us Part II‘s cast and developers ever since April’s leaks, but if actress Laura Bailey’s Twitter replies and inbox are any indication, this “backlash” has far surpassed harassment.
In an alarming tweet, Bailey shared some of the messages that she has been receiving from Twitter users, that range from threatening to “stab her” to outright threatening to find and “slaughter” her. There simply aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe this abhorrent behavior.
Man. I try to only post positive stuff on here… but sometimes this just gets a little overwhelming. I blacked out some of the words cuz, ya know, spoilers.
Side note. Thank you to all the people sending me positive messages to balance it out. It means more than I can say. pic.twitter.com/kGyULWPpNu
— Laura Bailey (@LauraBaileyVO) July 3, 2020
Following Bailey’s tweet, a number of folks in the industry and the gaming community flocked to her Twitter with positive messages, prompting Bailey to thank everyone for their words of encouragement.
Naughty Dog VP Neil Druckmann separately addressed the hateful conduct in a podcast hosted by former Nintendo boss, Reggie Fils-Aime, suggesting that some of the messages may prompt the studio to involve authorities.
“We have an actor, she’s been getting really awful, vile stuff because of a fictional character she’s playing in the game,” said Druckmann. “When things escalate to being serious, there are certain security protocols that we take and I report it to the proper authorities.”
As a reminder, PlayStation LifeStyle will not tolerate any excuses for these vile threats. Any reader found remotely justifying this behavior will be permanently banned without another warning.
