March Madness has left her, well, mad. Ashley Judd spoke to NBC News on Monday, Mar. 16, about falling victim to gender violence on social media after expressing her opinions about college basketball this past weekend.
Judd, a University of Kentucky super-fan, has enthusiastically supported the NCAA's No. 1 seed over the years. On Sunday, Mar. 15, she was photographed giving Dick Vitale a good luck kiss, which was seemingly misinterpreted on social media. She also received unwarranted and incredibly vulgar reactions from Twitter followers after she had suggested that the Arkansas Razorbacks were playing dirty.
While the Wildcats ultimately took the game with Kentucky's 78 to 63 victory over its opponent, the Insurgent actress was left disgusted by the barrage of explicit tweets.
When when I express a stout opinion during #MarchMadness I am called a whore, c—, threatened with sexual violence. Not okay.
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) March 15, 2015
Judd also retweeted a "typical example" from a tweeter who told her to "go suck on Cal's two inch d*ck ye Bitch whore." Some of the tweets were so vulgar that NBC News was unable to show them on its broadcast.
"Everyone needs to take personal responsibility," Judd told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts on Monday. "For what they write and not allowing this misinterpretation and shaming culture to persist. And by the way I'm pressing charges."
Judd gave another interview to NBC News' Craig Melvin on Tuesday, Mar. 17, detailing her plan of action. "The amount of gender violence that I experience is absolutely extraordinary," she said. "And a significant part of my day today will be spent filing police reports at home about gender violence directed at me on social media."
The Double Jeopardy star noted: "That many people, that explicit, that overt."
Her latest fight against Twitter trolls comes in the wake of Curt Schilling's investigation from earlier this month. The three-time World Series champ meticulously tracked down men harassing his daughter on social media, and exposed their identities — and lewd and awful personal messages on his personal blog.
