An alt-right group called Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and Its Fanboys have been plotting to organize a barrage of negative reviews of the film Black Panther on Rotten Tomatoes. Since the news first broke, their page is no longer available on Facebook and the director of the film has responded.
Director Ryan Coogler did not seem overly concerned with the Facebook group. "For me, I’m looking forward to everybody seeing the film," Coogler told HuffPost. "I’m really looking forward to sharing the film with audiences regardless of what their political views are … that’s kind of where I [stand on that]."
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It isn't the first movie targeted by the group. Its moderator, a self-proclaiming alt-right supporter previously criticized The Last Jedi for it's "feminist agenda." The group claims they are responsible for tanking the latest Star Wars film's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes by using bots, reports HuffPost. The group has plans to do the same to Black Panther which currently is projected to be Marvel's highest-earning opening for a first, stand-alone film. So far, the vast majority of early reactions to the movie have been overwhelmingly positive.
Rotten Tomatoes responded to the news as well expressing their dedication to monitoring their platform diligently. "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,” said a statement released by the site on Thursday. "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."
Coogler said that he believes that looking at the general consensus can be an oversimplification of what critics are saying about a movie adding, "I’m a person who definitely respects film criticism and draws on it in the filmmaking process."
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