Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones quits Twitter after torrent of racist abuse

Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has left Twitter with a “very sad heart” after she was subjected to racist abuse from online trolls. The American actress shared some of the tweets she had been sent following the release of the Hollywood film. She has called for Twitter to do more to tackle abuse on its site and said she understood why many celebrities chose not have social media accounts. The hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ began trending on Twitter after Jones highlighted the abuse she was suffering online.

I’m not stupid to not know racism exists, and I know it will probably live on way after me. But we have to make people take responsibility.

Leslie Jones

Jones is part of the all-female line-up in the new Ghostbusters movie, along with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. They replaced the quartet of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, who starred in the original 1980s film franchise. The announcement of the new female cast was met by criticism online from some Ghostbusters fans, while the film’s trailer attracted more than 900,000 “dislikes” on YouTube - a record number for a movie trailer on the website

Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all.

Ghostbusters director Paul Feig

Leslie Jones