Lily Gao, best known for her role as Ada Wong in the Resident Evil 4 remake, has more-or-less left Instagram following a sudden wave of harassment.
Over the weekend, almost every post from Gao’s official Instagram account vanished – seemingly due to swarms of ghoulish people leaving mean-spirited and downright horrific comments regarding her performance as Ada in the Resident Evil 4 remake. Many of those now-deleted comments called her performance “awful” and that she “ruined the remake” even though, you know, Gao didn’t write the character or lines! Not that reasonable people think through harassment campaigns like this, mind you.
Because of recent harassment over her role as Ada Wong in Resident Evil 4 Remake! Lily Gao has now almost deleted all of her Instagram posts! pic.twitter.com/hl89tFxI2d
— 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 (@RuleTimeSpace) April 1, 2023
The consensus is that Gao’s performance is a bit flat and doesn’t stack up to prior iterations of Ada. Traditionally, the character is a femme fatale constantly spouting playful lines. However, the remake is a smidge more grounded, and Ada’s lines are much more to-the-point than before. Most people (like myself) prefer the older style, but again – that’s no excuse for harassing someone over social media.
It’s quite alright not to be a fan of an actor’s performance in any medium, be it film, television, or video games – but there’s no justification for targeting someone just doing their job. Before the Resident Evil 4 remake came out, Gao had loads of Instragam posts expressing her excitement to be involved with the project and even included behind-the-scenes photos of recording sessions. So it’s extra disappointing to see everyone lash out at her.
Fortunately, Gao should be back as Ada in the upcoming Mercenaries update and (fingers crossed) Separate Ways DLC
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
