In her new memoir entitled, Leslie F*cking Jones, comedian and SNL superstar Leslie Jones speaks out about the backlash she received for the 2016 all-female Ghostbusters reboot.
Within the memoir, Jones reveals personal details about her fascinating life. Throughout her career she’s defied everyone’s expectations and found success just by being herself. In an excerpt of the book published in Rolling Stone, Leslie Jones details how toxic Hollywood can be, and how they tried to break her when she signed on for the Ghostbusters reboot.
The comedian explained how after the trailer was released, she was berated with racism and death threats because they had the audacity to make an all-female remake of a popular ‘80s comedy, and even decided to cast a Black woman. She revealed that after her account kept getting attacked and the threats became so vile and dangerous, she had to shut down her Twitter. Due to the endless attempts to hack her, Jack Dorsey, who was the platform’s CEO at the time, even had a team specifically working on her account.
Leslie Jones Speaks Out on the Backlash She Received on and Off the Set of Ghostbusters Reboot
As bad as things were off the set, Jones revealed that she still had plenty of battles to fight on set. Jones detailed how much she was initially offered for the role, and how she negotiated for a better wage, although still not as much as her fellow co-stars.
“It was made clear to me at times during the process that I was lucky to even be on that movie, but honestly, I was thinking, ‘I don’t have to be in this muthafucka,’” she writes. “Especially as I got paid way less than Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. No knock on them, but my first offer was to do that movie for $67,000. I had to fight to get more (in the end I got $150K), but the message was clear: ‘This is gonna blow you up—after this, you’re made for life,’ all that kind of shit, as though I hadn’t had decades of a successful career already. And in the end, all it made for me was heartache and one big-ass controversy.”
“By the end of that shoot, I knew so much more than I did when I started,” she writes. “By the end I was thinking, ‘This shit won’t ever happen again. I know that I’m not a big star yet, but after this muthafucka, after figuring this out, I’m about to release the Kraken.’
What Has Leslie Jones Been Up to Since Receiving Backlash for Ghostbusters Movie Reboot?
Since starring in the Ghostbusters movie reboot, Leslie Jones and fellow comedian Adam DeVine appeared in a 2016 ad campaign for Allstate Insurance, that was created by Leo Burnett Worldwide. She has also hosted the BET Awards that aired on June 25, 2017, which marked her hosting debut.
In 2018, Jones appeared in two advertisements for Amazon’s Echo Spot, and in 2020, Jones hosted a Supermarket Sweep reboot. In 2021, she returned for season 2. Leslie Jones was also the host for the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards and continues to perform live comedy shows all across the country.
Jones‘ memoir entitled Leslie F*cking Jones was released on September 19, 2023.
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