Resident Evil fans are sharing their support for Ada Wong voice actress Lily Gao, as abuse forces her off Instagram. Since being spammed with hate-filled comments by trolls, Gao has deleted almost all of her Instagram posts, including anything that mentions her involvement with Resident Evil 4 Remake.
This comes after she was already forced to deactivate her comments on Instagram, after abusive comments flooded her posts. Comments varied from claims that her Ada performance "ruined" the game, to complaints over her replacing the previous voice actress - something she, of course, had absolutely no control over.
Since then, she has now deleted most of her Instagram posts, leaving just one text post up from 2020. Comments are still deactivated, and she hasn't been active on the account since the abuse started.
Now, to counter the hate Gao is receiving for her performance, fans of her work are praising her take on the character. Over on Twitter, you can find players sharing scenes where they believe Gao's voice work elevated the dialogue, particularly in her first exchange with Leon.
Others also feel that her more subtle approach to Ada added to her intrigue, as a counter to the claim that her delivery fell flat.
Sadly, online abuse such as this is hardly surprising in the gaming community. Fellow voice actress Laura Bailey faced abuse when she played Abby in The Last of Us, and similarly, Bella Ramsey was hit with online harassment when they were cast as Ellie in the HBO spin-off.
Despite the abusers, we'll likely hear more of Lily Gao's Ada in the upcoming expansion, Separate Ways. This was leaked last week, with dataminers finding evidence of its development in Resident Evil 4's files. There's been no formal announcement yet, but it's safe to assume Gao will reprise her role - and hopefully be able to social media beforehand.