Leslie Jones returned to Twitter yesterday after taking a hiatus. She was upset at the horrific racist abuse that trolls were hurling at her on Twitter, among them a Brietbart journalist named Milo Yiannopoulos, whose account was suspended. After Leslie retweeted some of the abuse and revealed how much she was hurt by it, Twitter banned several accounts including the Brietbart journalist’s and promised to crack down on trolls and harassment. It’s been a long time coming for Twitter, which has allowed this type of abuse to go on for years. Leslie’s first return tweet was about Game of Thrones and after that she thanked everyone for the support and for the #LoveForLeslieJ hashtag.
Welp…a bitch thought she could stay away. But who else is gonna live tweet Game of Thrones!!
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 21, 2016
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) July 21, 2016
Leslie then retweeted her dress design from Christian Siranio along with some tweets about the troll impersonating her on Twitter. (That was apparently a photoshopped screenshot although it’s hard to tell.)
So it sounds like she’s ok, which is good news. Even better is the fact that Leslie did an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers! She talked about what she went through and why she decided to expose it instead of just sit there and take it. Here’s some of what she said and you can watch the video below. It’s worth noting that she praises Facebook for taking care of issues she had right away. She also said that she met with the CEO of Twitter and that they banned some accounts together.
First of all let me let everybody know that I did not leave Twitter. I just signed out because I wanted to deal with what wasgoing on. I went to bed and I woke up the next morning and I was like ‘they said I left Twitter! I didn’t leave.’
What’s scary about the whole thing is that the insults didn’t hurt me. Unfortunately I’m used to the insults. But what scared me was the injustice of a gang of people jumping against you for such a sick cause… They really believe in what they believe in… Like it’s so gross and mean and unnecessary. So it was just like one of those things of, like, ‘Okay, so if I hadn’t said anything nobody would have ever knew about this. All those people still would have an account.
When I approached Facebook they [were] on it. Twitter, 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…
I met the CEO of Twitter… It’s just Jack. He was cool. They helped me out. We got a whole bunch of accounts taken off of Twitter. It’s not right. It’s not right to gang up on anybody…
A lot of people came at me with ‘freedom of speech.’ Hate speech and freedom of speech. Two different things.
[From video of Late Night via ET Online]
After that Seth showed Leslie a bunch of videos that fans put together for her (that’s a 2:45 in the video below) and it was really nice! Everyone was exclaiming how much they love her. A lot of fans were in costume and one guy had a big cutout of her.
I’m so glad Leslie is doing well. After seeing her on Seth Myers and on The View I get the sense that she’s the kind of person who feels things deeply and I can relate. It’s got to hurt to read crap like that online. Hopefully she brought enough awareness to it so that other people on Twitter will no longer have to deal with this kind of harassment and abuse.
photos credit: Getty, Pacific Coast News and FameFlynet
GO QUEEN LESLIE, STAY IN FORMATION! remember Yonce told us best revenge is your paper!
Exactly!!
Just keep being you!
I’m glad she’s back….this isn’t a freedom of speech issue really as Twitter is a private entity and can regulate speech on its platform as much as it wants.
So her haters saying this is a freedom of speech issue are just legally wrong.
But why didn’t her co-stars come to her defense at all?????
I don’t think Wiig or McKinnon are on Twitter. McCarthy doesn’t seem to be very active on her account.
I’m really happy for Leslie. It’s fantastic that Facebook and Twitter were able to address her concerns. I hope they will bring the same level of respect and sensitivity to the concerns of the community writ large.
This is just such an ugly representation of human nature. I really fear for our country right now. I am old enough to have seen the civil right movement up close the first time and this is worse on some levels. Social media has added a whole other aspect and society is not handling it well.
It’s not a free speech issue. Twitter is a private company and can ban whoever or whatever they like. It’s not censorship.
That being said, hate speech is protected speech. You can be insanely hateful and still enjoy the protections of freedom of speech. Direct threats are not protected, nor is incitement to lawless action. But, yes, hate speech is permissible.
Also, I wish Twitter would get its act together. I love Leslie, but I hope she gets that she got results because of her high profile. How many anonymous users deal with this stuff routinely? Lots. And Twitter is very selective with its bans. They are also notoriously difficult when it comes to working with cops and prosecutors who need user information to make cases. So while I’m glad for Leslie, I still think Twitter needs to pound sand with their platitudes about caring for its users.
I’m glad the ceiling of twitter met with her and took this seriously. Good to her for speaking up, I’m sure many others have had this problem.
So glad that the POS Milo and his army of 14 year old bigots finally got banned from twitter. What he incited on Twitter against Leslie Jones was despicable and I hope he fades into oblivion.