'Ghostbusters' Director Paul Feig Commits to Taking Geek Community 'Back From the Bullies'
The ‘Ghostbusters’ cast (Hopper Stone/Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures via AP)
If you’ve been keeping track of your Ghostbusters reboot news, you already know that the movie, which doesn’t come out until July, has been slimed online with quite a bit of negative commentary.
The recent teaser for the film has become the most disliked trailer in YouTube history, with some lodging complaints, on YouTube and other platforms, about the comedy’s tone and the fact that women, not men, are the ones holding the proton packs.
In a piece published last week by the New York Daily News, Paul Feig, director of Ghostbusters, was quoted as saying, “Geek culture is home to some of the biggest a——s I’ve ever met in my life.“ It was a statement Feig made a year ago in response to a book author’s general questions about the reboot controversy, not a comment about the brouhaha regarding the trailer. The Daily News clarified the context of Feig’s comments with a correction, which prompted Feig to share more of his thoughts via Twitter.
Paul Feig in April (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
“I very much regret saying in my answer that I had actually ‘met’ any ‘a——s’ from the geek community. I have never met anyone from the geek world face-to-face who wasn’t a warm, kind person. The ‘a——s’ of which I speak are the ones who live online, who write those hateful tweets and posts and comments.”
Feig says he has no problem with people disliking the trailer or being offended by the prospect of a Ghostbusters reboot, but he does object to “bullies” who write hateful, misogynistic things simply because they don’t care for a movie.
Related: New 'Ghostbusters’ Trailer Offers More Chris Hemsworth
“The geek world has been a haven for so many of us and we should all refuse to let these bullies hijack the conversations and debates we all love to engage in, nor should we let them represent our community and culture to the rest of the world,” he adds. “The bullies are not the norm and I would dare say they are not even true geeks. They are the micro minority. God bless the true geeks of the world and here’s to taking our community back from the bullies.”
Of course, Feig’s open letter was immediately met with some negative responses on Twitter, as well as some warm ones, too. The comments section on an Entertainment Weekly story about the filmmaker’s anti-bullying stance is filled with readers calling Feig a “cry baby” and accusing him of ruining comedy by bringing gender politics into it. A sample: “No offense but there is no way Wiig, McCarthy, hillary clinton comic are going to match comedy against Aykroyd, Moranis, Murray and Ramis…. Up yours Feig, I will not watch Ghostbusters now.”
The effort to take back the community from the bullies continues, apparently.
Watch our ‘Ghostbusters’ trailer breakdown:
