Following the recent harassment of Ada Wong's Resident Evil 4 remake voice actor, Leon S. Kennedy's voice actor Nick Apostolides his thoughts on the toxicity within the fandom. Apostolides joined the Resident Evil cast when he first voiced Leon in the Resident Evil 2 remake in 2019.
Months before the Resident Evil 4 remake was released, many fans already seemed skeptical of a lot of the changes that Capcom was making to the game. One of them was the recasting of some characters, specifically Ada Wong, who was voiced by Lily Gao. While many thought Gao was a strong choice for Ada there were people who weren't happy with her performance.
The hurtful comments and online harassment toward Gao worsened upon the launch of the Resident Evil 4 remake in March, prompting her to delete almost all her Instagram posts. Reacting to the incident, her co-star Apostolides told The Gamer that he advised Gao to ignore the trolls and assured her that there were people supporting her. He also empathized with her because many fans also had differing opinions about his performance as Leon in the Resident Evil 2 remake. Apostolides told The Gamer, "I told her that first of all you can’t take it personally. Anytime you’re taking on the role of a beloved character, people will have their opinions. If people aren’t happy, those will be the loudest voices. It’s not that you don’t have support, it’s just the ones who really need to make their voices heard online are the Twitter trolls, and they will make you understand that they don’t like you."
Apostolides acknowledged that everyone's entitled to their own opinions about their performance in Resident Evil or any project, but candidly said that fans who DM actors just to insult them seemed to be living sad lives. Over on social media, many are still sending their support and love to Gao, who still hasn't posted or addressed the negative criticism she's gotten.
The Resident Evil 4 remake received mostly positive reviews from players and critics alike, noting the gameplay and graphical improvements that enhanced the experience. While this may be the case, it's also unfortunate to see how some fans have treated Gao just because they didn't like her performance. Successful video game franchises like Resident Evil will often have dedicated fanbases that want every element to be perfect. However, this could lead to unnecessary hate towards the people involved if they don't get their way.
One could only hope that Gao is receiving words of encouragement and support from the people closest to her, including her Resident Evil 4 remake family.
Resident Evil 4 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.