The Last of Us Part II voice actor and director receive death threats because the internet is the worst

Naughty Dog has denounced the harassment on social media of Laura Bailey, who voices the game’s big bad Abby, and game director Neil Druckmann, reminding everybody that “we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse” and also that it’s a video game, you guys. It is not real.

Since The Last of Us Part II’s launch, the game has been kind of controversial – perhaps most obviously demonstrated in the space between Metacritic’s media and user reviews, averaging at 94 and 5.3 respectively. It’s hard to explain exactly why without dropping spoilers, but it seems most of the very offended “fans” are pissed about some aspects of the game’s plot development and the inevitable claims of “SJW” agendas because Abby has muscles. Which is apparently very unrealistic in a post-apocalypse with no access to gyms or steroids, but only for women, not men because… biology.

Not realising, perhaps, that Abby is a fictional character in a totally made-up narrative about an untreated fungal infection that wiped out most of the planet, some people decided to take this out on the actor instead. I guess it makes sense if you’re super-stupid and terrible?

Man. I try to only post positive stuff on here… but sometimes this just gets a little overwhelming. I blacked out some of the words cuz, ya know, spoilers.

Side note. Thank you to all the people sending me positive messages to balance it out. It means more than I can say.❤️ pic.twitter.com/kGyULWPpNu

— Laura Bailey (@LauraBaileyVO) July 3, 2020

Not missing a convenient opportunity to blame radical feminists, liberal cucks, and the Jews, others slid into Druckmann’s DMs to wish coronavirus on him.

You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it. Unfortunately too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent. Here are just a handful of them (feel it’s important to expose.) Trigger Warning: transphobic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, etc. pic.twitter.com/uR9vpGgYQa

— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) July 5, 2020

“Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast,” Naughty Dog responded on Twitter with what I can imagine was a lot of exasperation and eye-rolling.

“Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse.”

Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast. Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse. pic.twitter.com/eoq4t1ITnh

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) July 5, 2020

Jeez. It’s a video game, you guys. IT’S NOT EVEN REAL.