Although critics praised The Last of Us 2 in their rave reviews, angry fans have continued to slam Naughty Dog's latest game. The intensity and criticisms behind the recent backlash have drawn comparisons to fan hatred for The Last Jedi. However, one major similarity between the two controversies is the unfortunate harassment that the actresses behind unpopular characters have received.
While several fans expressed their dissatisfaction with The Last of Us 2's narrative, many players said that they hated Abby, the game's second playable character and antagonistic figure. After doing her best to maintain silence amidst the backlash, Abby's voice actress, Laura Bailey, has come forward with hateful messages she has received from slighted fans.
On July 3, Bailey shared a tweet that contained several screenshots of the death threats that angry fans had sent through Instagram. Several of the shocking messages threatened to "slaughter" or "stab" Bailey for her involvement in The Last of Us 2. One particularly violent message directly threatened to come after Bailey's son. To accompany the screenshots, Bailey expressed how the death threats felt "overwhelming" despite her attempts to keep her social media presence positive. She ended her statement by thanking people who sent her "positive messages to balance [the death threats] out."
In a recent podcast interview, The Last of Us 2's director Neil Druckmann alluded to how Internet harassment impacted the people behind the game. Specifically, he talked about how "an actor" was receiving "really awful [and] vile stuff because of a fictional character she's playing in the game." Although Druckmann did not name the cast member, it appears that he was referring to Bailey due to Abby's unpopularity with some fans.
Thankfully, many of Bailey's fans, friends and associates came forward in the Twitter replies to comfort and support her. Several people pointed out that these enraged fans needed to learn to separate Bailey from Abby. After this tweet was posted, one of Bailey's harassers also came forward and apologized to her publicly. In her final update, Bailey thanked everyone for reminding her that "good people far outweigh the bad."
Although fans are allowed to express their dissatisfaction with a game, nothing justifies death threats or hatred for its creators. In fact, the violent messages often tend to delegitimize the criticism and discourse surrounding a game. Overall, angry fans need to learn to understand personal boundaries.
The Last of Us 2 is available now for the PlayStation 4.