WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II.Â
Voice actor Laura Bailey spoke out against the various death threats she received for her performance as Abby in The Last of Us Part II.
On Wednesday, Bailey tweeted images of some of the threats made against her life following the game’s June 19 release. "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," she wrote.
Bailey's Last of Us co-star Ashley Johnson professed her support for Bailey with a blunt statement: "If you don't like something, it's okay to just not like it. It's okay to disagree. This? This is unacceptable. You do not threaten someone’s life, their child’s life or their family’s lives. Period."
The Last of Us Part IIÂ director Neil Druckmann also called out these attacks. "As the people that propagate this kind of hate would say, how stunning and brave!" he wrote on Twitter. "I hope these gamers get the mental help they so clearly need. Unfortunately this is now the cost of making popular entertainment that challenges conventions. Laura doesn't deserve any of this."
Despite receiving critical acclaim from gaming critics, The Last of Us Part II has become one of the most polarizing video games in recent memory due to its story choices. The game’s inciting incident sees original game protagonist Joel (Troy Baker) murdered by a woman named Abby (Bailey), causing Ellie (Johnson) to track her down across Seattle. However, at the game’s halfway point, the player's perspective is shifted to Abby, allowing gamers to understand her motivations and play roughly ten hours in her shoes.
Developed by Naughty Dog, The Last of Us Part II is now available on PlayStation 4.