For some reason, there is some animosity between Marvel and DC fans. Right now, those tensions are even more strained as a pro-DC group recently vowed to purposely lower BLACK PANTHER’s Rotten Tomatoes audience score, urging others to join them. News of their vengeful plans spread across the internet, and now Rotten Tomatoes come out against the group with their own statement.
The company issued a statement saying that, though they respect the differing opinions of fans of movies and TV, they do not condone any sort of hate speech. As a result, they will continue to monitor the site for any sort of derogatory behavior.
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. 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.
The group in question is called “Down with Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys,” and their goal is to take down Disney, who they feel has been manipulating the press to give Marvel movies good reviews (except for THOR: RAGNAROK and INCREDIBLE HULK, of course). Their plans made headlines when their Facebook event called “Give Black Panther a Rotten Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes” showed up with the aim of getting people to give the movie a bad score. On the event's main page was the hashtag "#DCOverMarvel," as the group believes Disney is paying off critics to like Marvel movies and hate on DC ones.
The group also claimed responsibility for coming together to give Disney’s STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI a low Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and now the movie has the lowest score of any Star Wars film to date. However, the group is no longer active on Facebook as the page has since been taken down/deactivated.
BLACK PANTHER will in no way suffer from any attempts people make to attack the RT audience score, as the movie is tracking to have one of the biggest Marvel debuts ever. On top of that, this news coming out would probably work against the group, as more people who like the movie may now be more inclined to go make sure to give the movie a great score. My only wish is that everyone who signed up to participate in this “event” finds some happiness in their life. Maybe go pet some puppies, or perhaps step out from underneath the bridge to feel the sun on your face.
See BLACK PANTHER in theaters February 16.