Marvel's 'Black Panther' Targeted, 'Alt-Right' Group To Sabotage Its Rotten Tomatoes Score
Black Panther becomes a target of an alt-right group's protest against Disney for allegedly paying critics to give the DCEU films bad reviews.
The group, Down with Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys, plans to sabotage the Marvel film by leaving bad scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
'Black Panther' Protesters
Down with Disney plans to hold a Facebook event called "Give Black Panther a Rotten Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes." The group provided reasons why they disliked the film, including "corporate manipulations which created falsified bad press for the DC Extended Universe.
"I feel It's time to strike back at all those under Disney and bring down the house of mouse's actions for paying off the critics that hurt DC Comics on film and for other parties affected by them," reads the description of the event, which at that time attracted 3,700 participants and 1,800 said they were interested.
Down with Disney also encouraged other people to use the event as a platform to spread spoilers for any upcoming Marvel film and to inform them of other targets. The group claimed that they plan to create a similar event against the anticipated Avengers: Infinity War and unspecified Netflix shows.
However, it seems the group ran into some problems because the Facebook event is no longer accessible. The link to the page goes to an error page not long after Rotten Tomatoes issued a statement denouncing Down with Disney.
Rotten Tomatoes Responds
On Thursday, Feb. 1, Rotten Tomatoes assured the public and fans of Marvel and Disney that they have the situation under control. The company has strengthened security to prevent the group's plan from happening.
"We at Rotten Tomatoes are proud to have become a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously. While we respect our fans' diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech. Our team of security, network and social experts continue to closely monitor our platforms and any users who engage in such activities will be blocked from our site and their comments removed as quickly as possible," a representative for the company said.
Ryan Coogler On 'Black Panther' Reviews
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler said he is open to all the reviews about his upcoming film. He appreciates all the criticisms since they help him in the filmmaking process. Likewise, Coogler is unbothered by the group's threat since he is looking forward to sharing the film with audiences regardless of their political views.
Black Panther opens in U.S. theaters on Feb. 16.
