The actress, age 21, revealed how the dislike she has felt for her appearance has made her to delete social media. It also points to a more troubling trend in the gaming industry.
The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey has been forced to delete her social media accounts after receiving a consistent torrent of hate online. Why? Some gamers have said she does not look similar enough to the video game’s “computer generated” character of Ellie. Now, the severity of the backlash has left fans pointing to a more pervasive and insidious trend within the male gaming community.
The Last Of Us began airing on HBO in 2023 and has just released its second season on April 13. In it, Bella plays 14-year-old Ellie, the main character of a video game set in a world ravaged by the ‘cordyceps’ virus: a fungal disease that transforms those infected into terrifying murderous zombies. However, a significant portion of the audience have been caught up with the fact that the 21-year-old doesn’t look exactly like the animated character she’s playing.
READ MORE: The Last of Us’ Bella Ramsey speaks out on Joel’s death with emotional revelation
Across Reddit, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram there are hordes of posts directing hate towards the young actress, including on HBO’s own Instagram page. And while many are denigrating her looks, there has also been vitriol directed at her for acting skills and public appearances.
Bella told The Hollywood Reporter: “I always knew that I’d [deactivate social media] one day and never even really wanted to have social media in the first place. If I just avoid Twitter and Reddit, which now I’m doing, then everything’s totally fine.” The actress has also deactivated her Instagram account.
In particular, the show’s subreddit is regularly inundated with cruel and invasive posts picking apart Bella’s appearance – which are often met with tens of thousands of upvotes. She explained the impact the vitriol was having on her self-image: “I got quite fixated on the way that Ellie looks in the game… And I didn’t look like that. My body type isn’t that. It was a challenge for me to let myself off the hook for not looking computer-generated.”
Many fans expressed their support for Bella after her decision on X. One person wrote, “Unfortunately, people who are anonymous have to act wickedly.” It saddens people to attack people for their looks. A great actor, Bella is. What matters to me is nothing.
Meanwhile, others were quick to call out the haters. “It’s weird seeing man-babies cry about how an actress looks in comparison to a computer game character,” one user wrote.
Another remarked, “People can be incredibly repulsive. It is not her fault that HBO gave her the role; rather, her acting is excellent; all you need to do is to get the better of this poor girl.
The game’s fan base has also attacked her, making her one of the few actors from the franchise. After killing off the fan favorite Joel, Laura Bailey, who played Abby in the television series, reportedly received death threats. She claimed that she has stopped posting on social media because of the experience.
Naughty Dog, the studio for the video game, apologised for the negative feedback they received after some plot and cast details were leaked in 2020. Co-director of the program Neil Druckmann also revealed on X that he had received numerous anti-Semitic and violent messages.
Fans of Supergiant Hades II also complained that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was too “ugly.” After the gaming industry decided its female character Aloy wasn’t attractive enough, the game Horizon Forbidden West received a lot of hate messages in 2022.
On a more general level, misogynistic and racist harassment campaigns have been common in the gaming industry. Particularly when real or animated female characters don’t act or appear the way they want to.
Source: Mirror
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