Bella Ramsey becomes the ‘most hated’ star; all because they acted in a video game adaptation

If you search for Bella Ramsey's name on social media, more often than not, you might see all the hate coming their way for The Last of Us.

21-year-old Bella Ramsey is currently the ‘most hated’ star in Hollywood. It feels like every time a young person has the audacity to essay fleshed-out roles and speak their minds in interviews, the internet cannot keep calm until they’re dragged down—Jennifer Lawrence, Rachel Zegler, and now Bella, who portrayed the 14-year-old and 19-year-old Ellie in seasons 1 and 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us. (Also Read: Bella Ramsey was 'fixated' on not looking like Ellie in The Last Of Us, opens up on trolls obsessed with their looks)

File photo of British actor Bella Ramsey attending the premiere of HBO's The Last of Us, Season 2, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in the US.(AFP)

Bella Ramsey looks nothing like Ellie

Type Bella’s name in the search bar of any social media, and you’ll see why I say that. The worst of the hate coming their way, however, has to be from the Reddit community. Subreddits dedicated to the web series can’t seem to stand the way Bella looks, emotes, acts…maybe even breathes. Bella, being on the spectrum as an autistic person, also seems to rile them up. All because they do not look anything like the video game Ellie from the PlayStation game the series is based on. And that makes these purists mad. They don’t seem to mind that their co-star, Pedro Pascal, looks nothing like video game Joel either. It’s not hard to guess why. Any conversation that maybe, just maybe, the writing of season 2 is bad isn’t encouraged.

A Redditor pointing out how The Last of Us subreddits are making fun of Bella Ramsey.

Misgendering Bella Ramsey on purpose

The hate towards Bella includes everything from homophobia and misgendering them (Bella identifies as non-binary) to pitting them against Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in The Last of Us games. “What are the main flaws on Bella Ramsey’s face?” reads one subreddit title, inviting everyone to dissect their features. Another accuses ‘her’ of being an ‘industry plant’ while seemingly deliberately misgendering them. Numerous memes on Reddit have Bella’s face superimposed on random movie posters featuring men, poking fun at how in one of the recent episodes, Ellie excited says, “I’m gonna be a dad,” when girlfriend Dina says she’s pregnant.

A screengrab of a Redditor calling out misogynistic, homophobic comments against Bella Ramsey.

The love coming their way from fans

But all is not lost, because Bella also has fans defending them fiercely on social media. One X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, “bella ramsey appreciation tweet because some of you are f***ing a******s.” Another pointed out a scene from The Last of Us, writing, “People seriously watched this scene where Bella Ramsey looked like there was no one behind those eyes just pure hatred/anger followed by a scene where they tearfully did a long scene on the porch & say they have no emotional range. Y'all are miserable & blindly hating.” Another wrote, “propaganda i'm not falling for; bella ramsey being considered ugly,” posting their pics. A fan even wrote, “imagine hating on bella ramsey and pedro pascal just for existing, couldn't be me.”

Bella Ramsey anticipated the hate?

The Last of Us season 2 premiered on 13 April, and it wasn’t long before Bella realised what was happening. Talking to THR later that month, the actor revealed that they had deactivated all their social media accounts a few months before the show even aired. Hinting that they anticipated the hate, they said, “I always knew that I’d [deactivate] it one day and never even really wanted to have social media in the first place. It wasn’t like this big, dramatic thing, but there was an element of it that was thinking about the show coming out for season two. If I just avoid Twitter and Reddit, which now I’m doing, then everything’s totally fine.”

New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 drop every Monday at 6:35 pm on JioHotstar in India.