Some fans aren’t onboard with Ruby Rose being named as Batwoman in The CW’s Arrowverse. And the backlash has become so intense that the 32-year-old has quit Twitter.
The casting was announced last week with the news that Arrowverse producer Greg Berlanti will introduce Batwoman in an upcoming DC crossover event before giving the caped character her own show, thus making Rose the first LGBTQ lead in a live-action superhero series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The Bat is out of the bag and I am beyond thrilled and honored,” Rose wrote on Instagram at the time. “I’m also an emotional wreck … because this is a childhood dream.”
Two days later, however, the Australian actress deleted her Twitter account and limited her Instagram comments. She had been bombarded with negativity — criticism that she isn’t Jewish, that she isn’t a good enough actor, and, oddly, that she isn’t a lesbian.
“Where on Earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian therefore she can’t be Batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read,” Rose wrote on August 10 in what would be her her final tweets.
She continued: “I came out at 12? And have for the past 5 years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay.’ How do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change. I wish we would all support each other and our journeys. When women and when minorities join forces we are unstoppable … when we tear each other down it’s much more hurtful than from any group.”
“But hey I love a challenge,” the Orange Is the New Black alum added. “I just wish women and the LGBT community supported each other more. My wish was we were all a little kinder and more supportive of each other.”
Rose joins a growing list of high-profile women who have left social media after online abuse and negativity: a list that also includes Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown and Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley.
Prior to her Twitter departure, the Meg star struck an optimistic tone: “I am looking forward to getting more than 4 hours of sleep and to break from Twitter to focus all my energy on my next 2 projects. If you need me, I’ll be on my Bat Phone.”
Batwoman will debut on The CW in 2019.
