Twitter is sometimes fun, but it can often be completely awful and in the last few days a rolling wave of horrible has engulfed “film twitter” in a way that’s beyond awful, but it hurtful to the health, jobs, and lives of many involved. It’s a complicated, awful mess that somehow has engulfed the forcoming rlease of Gun Akimbo starring Daniel Radcliffe.

The flashpoint for this drama began last week when screenshots emerged of a private conversation/DM involving the editor of the film site/blog Much Ado About Cinema (which has since been shut down, thus no link) Dilara Elbir. In that conversation, she is shown using the N-word. Following that revelation, there was, as is inevitable a firestorm on social media and Elbir’s collaborators/co-workers on Much Ado About Cinema quit en masse.

In light of that, Elbir posted a tearful video apology on Friday where her wrists are visibly slashed and bleeding. It is a disturbing video and incredibly upsetting to watch. Friends intervened almost immediately and Elbir was taken to the hospital and is no longer on social media.

Members of film twitter were quick to decry the bullying that led to Elbir’s apparent suicide attempt and were correct in pointing out that twitter is absolutely toxic in many ways, and that there is very little now to distinguish valid criticism (and the criticism of Elbir’s use of the slur was valid) and the pile-ons and harassment that can lead to horrible consequences.

I want to pause here and acknowledge that it was right of people to call out Elbir. Her use of the slur was wrong, even in jest, but what should have been a teachable moment for her escalated to something much more, and endangered her. We do not know what role her own mental state and history played in this and it should be important online to remember that there are real people behind the screen names with histories and triggers you may not know. Her suffering, however, is not in competition with and does not erase the suffering of generations of black people who have endures that slur and the systemic oppression that goes with it.

There is no right here. It is tragic that the confluence of Dilara’s own mental health struggles, social media call-outs over racism, and the tendency to judge a person on a single moment on social media and to define our own lives by what people say about us online led to an apparent suicide attempt.

What is unquestionably not okay is what happened next. The director of the film Gun Akimbo, Jason Lei Howden decided to respond to supposed bullying over racism…with more bullying and racism and was called out for it by writer and friend of the site, Valerie Complex.

I want everyone to know that the Director of GUNS AKIMBO thinks as long as you say the N word in jest, it’s ok.

He also proceeded list the names and bully folks on their decision to leave a situation they thought was toxic. Thus bringing them threats of harm. Fucking awful. pic.twitter.com/XoXamO6lDj

— Valerie Complex♓️♎️♋️ (@ValerieComplex) February 21, 2020

In light of this, an article was published by Medium/Twitter user DarkSkyLady expressing her feeling and anger of this situation and the weaponization of white suffering at the expense of black pain and valid criticism.

Howden did not respond well to this and then decided to use not only his own twitter but the official Guns Akimbo twitter account – both of which have either been deleted or purged since the incidents – to continue to bully and harass people, now with his targets as two women who had nothing to do with Elbir before this. The Mary Sue has confirmed this with Complex.

Here is your not-that-friendly reminder that @JasonLeiHowden has decided that instead of promoting his movie, he’s going to harass Black women #OnHere, blame them for another writer experiencing suicidal tendencies, and act like the kind of cyberbully he’s speaking out against. pic.twitter.com/EK7QetISI9

— hellresidentNY (@hellresidentNY) February 23, 2020

This is unacceptable. Howden apparently learned nothing from this situation, which is that our actions and what we say online can have real-world consequences, that twitter is the absolutely wrong medium for this discussion and that it was not wrong of critics to call out Elbir’s behavior, but that the toxic culture of social media, and our obsession with and reliance on it can have terrible repercussions.

Words have consequences. They had consequences for Dilara Elbir that got out of hand and that will continue for her for a while. But words also have consequences for Jason Lee Howden. The Mary Sue stands in support of Complex and DarkSkyLady in calling out his bullying and subsequently we will not be covering Guns Akimbo in any fashion.

What happened to Dilara Elbir does not excuse what she did, but we hope she finds help, learns and grows from this. We hope that the consequences of this behavior for Howden also inspires him to revaluate his worldview and actions. We cannot undo the past, but neither we cannot excuse it or ignore it. All we can do is learn and commit to being better in the future.

Special thanks to Valerie Complex for her help with this story.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.

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