Amy Schumer's new comedy special, "The Leather Special," which premiered on Netflix last week, has been slammed by online reviewers. The more than 2,000 responses are an almost uninterrupted stream of 1 stars, the platform's lowest rating.
In an Instagram post, Schumer said that the low ratings are part of a concerted alt-right campaign to sink her career. The comedian defended her work and called out media outlets for failing to report on online attacks against her.
"The alt right organized trolls attack everything I do," she wrote. "They organize to get my ratings down. Meeting in sub Reddit rooms. They tried on my book and movies and tv show And I want to thank them. It makes me feel so powerful and dangerous and brave."
Schumer directed her fans to a Splitsider article that appears to show online organizing on forums like Reddit specifically targeting Schumar's work. The Splitsider article notes:
A quick Reddit search — particularly in the alt-right r/The_Donald subreddit — tells a very different story than what the above outlets are reporting, with posts like this one and this one encouraging people to give Schumer’s 2016 book a bad review on Amazon, plus all of these calls to give her special a one-star review:
- To those that still have Netflix; Netflix just added a new Amy Schumer special, please go and 1 star that piece of shit.
- Amy Schumer has a new special on Netflix and it has 1.5 stars… Can we get it down to 1?
- Amy “1 Star” Schumer has a new Netflix special. You know what to do
- ‘Amy Schumer: The Leather Special’ is on Netflix. You know what to do, folks.
There was even a concerted push over at r/opieandanthony for people to leave negative replies to Jim Norton’s tweet about the special, and unsurprisingly, tons of Redditors obliged.
The nasty reviews continue to stream in. Some claim to have no links to the alt-right and are just disappointed former fans. But other comments either make direct references to the alt-right or attack Schumar in strikingly sexist ways. A few examples:
