To all the people who recently trolled Leslie Jones on Twitter, she has something to say.
“Hate speech and freedom of speech,” the actress said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” Thursday, are “two different things.”
Watch the clip below:
The “Ghostbusters” star opened up about her recent Twitter harassment ordeal, which saw her targeted by legions of racist trolls, for the first time on the show.
“What’s scary about the whole thing is the insults didn’t hurt me,” said Jones. “Unfortunately, I’m used to insults, but what scared me was the injustice of a gang of people jumping against you for such a sick cause.”
It was “so gross and mean and unnecessary,” she added.
Jones said she was attacked by trolls on both Facebook and Twitter. Facebook quickly dealt with the issue, whereas Twitter was somewhat slower to respond.
“It’s like, that’s my favorite restaurant. I love the food there,” she said, using an analogy to explain her predicament with the micro-blogging service. “Three people just got shot in front of me. Y’all need to get some security.”
Jones said she did end up working with Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, and together they permanently suspended some of the perpetrators ― including Milo Yiannopoulos, an editor with conservative news outlet Breitbart, who tweeted abuse at Jones and incited his 300,000 followers to follow suit.
Jones also clarified whether she had, or had not, actually left Twitter amid the avalanche of hate-filled comments directed her way. “I did not leave Twitter,” she explained. “I just signed out, because I wanted to deal with what was going on.”
And she now appears to be very much back on the site, tweeting out her thanks to the people who supported her during the traumatic time.
Sign up for Peacock
to stream NBCU shows.
