Original Ghostbusters franchise writer and actor Dan Aykroyd has spoken out in support of actress Leslie Jones.
This week the actress from the Ghostbusters reboot faced a torrent of racist and sexist abuse on Twitter.
In an interview with ET Canada, Aykroyd said of Jones, “She’s a great writer, a great comedienne, and comes from a real urban background where she had a lot of hardship.
“She’s channeling that into a great achievement and a great career.”
Aykroyd referred to the abusive Twitter users as “insignificant gnats” and “losers” with “no lives of their own”. He described the trolls as “obese white men between 50 and 60 who are active [Klu Klux] Klan members or members of the Aryan nation. There are millions of them.”
He also expressed his fear of such individuals voting for Donald Trump, the Republican Party nominee in the US Presidential Election. “There’s a lot of white racist hatred out there that’s going to channel into support for the Republican ticket.”
However, he added that they might be voting for Trump in the “false belief” that he shares their views: “I don’t think Trump camps are as racist as the people who attacked Leslie Jones, I really don’t.
“Trump may be saying some things to go that way to get some votes, but I don’t know.”
The director of the new Ghostbusters, Paul Fieg, has also spoken up in Jones’s defence.
Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 18, 2016
You did nothing to deserve this. The Internet is filled with good people but there a few pieces of shit out there. https://t.co/PbCA0czBGd
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 19, 2016