Lily Gao, the actress who played Ada Wong in the Resident Evil 4 Remake, disabled comments on her Instagram pictures regarding the character after receiving a ton of negative feedback from angry video game players.
Although the remake of Resident Evil 4 has received widespread praise as a respectable rendition of the original and one of the finest games of 2023, it is not without flaws.
Lily Gao’s acting as Ada Wong has drawn considerable criticism, with some claiming that it falls short of how she was presented in Resident Evil 2’s version and that she comes off as bored in the role.
While giving feedback on a performance is OK, bullying someone for their work is not, regardless of how you personally feel about it.
Unfortunately, Gao has been experiencing just that in the week after the release of the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Gao’s Instagram photos received hundreds of nasty comments, as noted by the ResetEra user AdaWong, leading Gao to covertly deactivate replies on posts related to the new version of the game.
Gao disabled the comments so that fans and haters alike can no longer see them but Twitter user alicunts uploaded a few images of what was being written before they became unavailable, and they’re as problematic as one would expect.
y’all always take things way too far.. pic.twitter.com/WIJGcVMYNS
— . (@alicunts) April 1, 2023
One person believes that Gao’s performance is “nothing seductive” while another adds that Ada’s voice is the “worst voice acting [they have] heard in years.”
Fortunately, many Resident Evil fans have expressed their support for Gao’s portrayal of Ada by criticizing those who attack her and praising her performance in the game on Twitter.
In a particularly touching tweet, Twitter user DeanGagaKennedy recalls how thrilled Gao was to portray Ada in Welcome to Raccoon City and berated others for spoiling the experience for her, which is truly unfortunate.
I watched an interview before Welcome To Raccoon City was released of Lily Gao being so excited to play Ada Wong, I can’t believe people are harassing her personal profiles and ruining this moment for her. pic.twitter.com/bSBgTmIaOt
— ARTPOP’s Revenge (@DeanGagaKennedy) April 1, 2023
Being passionate about any form of art and feeling disappointed when it doesn’t raise to one’s personal expectations is quite normal but treating people like that is never alright.
Unfortunately, toxic reactions very similar to what is happening to Gao currently are quite common in the industry, one example being the harassment both the voice actor and face model for Abby from The Last of Us Part 2 previously experienced on social media.