Thousands took to Twitter to rally behind comedian Leslie Jones with the hashtag #LoveforLeslieJ on Monday after the "Ghostbusters" star was subjected to a storm of misogynist and racist messages.
The 48-year-old — who plays one of the movie's four ghost-catchers — said she was "in a personal hell" over the online abuse.
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In addition to sending Jones sexist and racist messages, Twitter users were circulating a screenshot of an apparently doctored tweet that was made to look like an offensive reply from the actress.
Her supporters quickly rallied, sending #LoveForLeslieJ messages that saw the hashtag trending worldwide. Boosted by "Ghostbusters" director Paul Feig and other celebrities, it received tens of thousands of tweets.
Just left @Ghostbusters and had SO MUCH FUN! That sequence in the smoke was everything!!
#AnswerTheCall #GirlsKickingAss #LoveForLeslieJ
#LoveForLeslieJ. Keep your head up and shine mama! @Lesdoggg
Stand with @Lesdoggg #loveforlesliej she is an inspiration and a legend in the making
The "Ghostbusters" reboot has gained mixed reviews, with a score of 60 on the aggregation site Metacritic. It received a solid $46 million at its opening weekend, although failed to top the U.S. box office.
Since it's announcement last year, it has also become a lightning rod for abuse on social media.
Much of the anger has centered around the decision to recast the male-dominated 1984 classic with all-female leads.
The film's official trailer has received close to 1 million "dislikes" on YouTube, making it the 9th most unpopular video on in the history of the site.
Social media sites have struggled to deal with the problem of users — mainly women — being verbally abused and threatened on their platforms.
A study by the British think tank Demos in May found that 10,000 "explicitly aggressive and misogynistic tweets" were sent to some 6,500 different users over a three week period.