Bella Ramsey — who identifies as non-binary and uses all pronouns — is entirely unsympathetic to the plight of the homophobe who wants their media to remain as straight as an arrow. The third episode of The Last of Us, which many critics praised for its storytelling and the post-apocalyptic queer romance at the centre of the plot, was review-bombed on aggregate social sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.
For anyone who doesn’t know, review bombing is when people rate a piece of media exceptionally low or high in order to make a point. The people who review-bombed episode three were trying to drive home their own homophobia and hatred, exposing a swath of bigots. The internet is a cruel place; especially for anything tangentially related to video games, which has proven a fertile breeding ground for bigotry.
But Ramsey doesn’t seem bothered by the extreme hatred, having once been a target of it themselves. “I know people will think what they want to think,” they said in an interview with British GQ. “But they’re gonna have to get used to it. If you don’t want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character — ” (this is a reference to Lev, the transman at the centre of a storyline in The Last of Us Part II, which is already being written for television adaptation in season two of the series) “ — that’s on you, and you’re missing out.”
The actor has had their own fair share of internet hatred. When they were first cast as Ellie there was a massive amount of vitriol spewed about the decision. Now, they’re seeing it as a challenge. Ramsey isn’t going to let other people tell them what to do. “It isn’t gonna make me afraid. I think that comes from a place of defiance.”
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Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.