Leslie Jones has had a rough few days on social media, where the Ghostbusters star has become the target of some vicious, racist attacks on Twitter. Friends and fans of Jones — including Ghostbusters director Paul Feig, among many other celebs — quickly came to her defense, creating the #LoveForLeslieJ hashtag, though Twitter itself was fairly slow to respond. While the site eventually apologized for its lapse, and banned several accounts associated with those attacks (including one of the ringleaders, Milo Yiannopoulos), Jones was understandably upset by the mess, and vowed to take a break from social media.
But the love for Jones continues even off of Twitter, where original Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd has also spoken out against the comedian’s attackers. In an interview with ET Canada, Aykroyd put Jones’ trolls on blast, not mincing any words when it comes to what he really thinks of those who spew hatred from behind Twitter avatars.
“These people, first of all, they’re insignificant gnats,” Aykroyd told ET. “They’re losers. They have no lives of their own, they probably can barely pay for the Wi-Fi they’re using, probably no jobs. I would say you’re looking at obese, white men between 50 and 60, who are active Klan members or members of the Aryan Nation, and there are millions of them.”
Aykroyd went on to say that those very people would probably be voting for a certain Republican presidential candidate come November, though the actor’s harsh rhetoric sounded a bit similar to some of the words The Donald himself would use (“losers” in particular is Trump’s favorite word, after all). Thankfully, in the midst of tearing down the trolls, Aykroyd also shared his admiration for Jones as a person and as a performer.
“She’s a great writer, great comedian, and comes from a real urban background where she had a lot of hardship and she’s channeling that into a great achievement and a great career,” he told ET.
It seems likely that even more high-profile people will come to Jones’ defense in the coming days and weeks. Here’s hoping that Jones has a chance to see some of these nicer comments, too.
(Via: ET Canada)
