Black Panther, a Marvel movie, had opened to rave reviews, but an online Facebook group was not happy. The group, which named themselves Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys, created an event to depress the ratings of Black Panther on the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, which prompted Facebook to ban it for violating community standards. The group calls itself as a pro-DC Expanded Universe fan page that opposes Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars franchises. The same group had, in December 2017, claimed responsibility of the low score for fantasy film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, claiming that Disney was behind Warner Bros' DC films receiving negative reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes issued a statement soon after the incident: "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.
Black Panther, which centres around African Americans and will be out in theatres on February 16, earned rave early reactions from attendees at the premiere, including Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, who praised the film as an “extraordinary work.”
“It’s just filled with so much talent, so much beauty, the aesthetic of it is so pleasing and so black and Afro-centric and African and modern and worldly and futuristic. You know, it’s got a lot of swag. This movie is on fire,” said Bassett, who plays the hero T‘Challa’s mother.
Inputs from agencies
