Rotten Tomatoes has denounced fans efforts to tank the ratings of “Black Panther,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The movie is already tracking to make well over $100 million.
A Facebook group called “Down with Disney’s Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys” created an event entitled “Give Black Panther a Rotten Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.” The group also claimed responsibility for the scores of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” The most recent “Star Wars” film garnered many positive reviews from critics, yet received a poor audience score. “The Last Jedi” currently has a critic score of 91 percent and an audience score of 48 percent.
“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,” the review aggregator said in a statement Thursday.
The Facebook page is apparently an alt-right group. “While we respect our fans’ diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech,” Rotten Tomatoes said in their statement. “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.”
Rotten Tomatoes did not suggest it will do anything about “The Last Jedi’s” current audience score.
“Black Panther,” Marvel’s first cinematic release of 2018, is set to hit theaters Feb. 16.
