Ah, the Internet is at it again: Lily Gao, the new voice of Ada Wong in Resident Evil 4’s remake, has effectively nuked her Instagram account following a string of hateful comments from so-called “fans”. Gao – who also starred in the Return to Raccoon City movie – was recruited to replace Resident Evil 2’s Jolene Anderson, but not everyone has appreciated her performance in the game.
While constructive criticism is generally fine, some of the comments have sadly gone way over-the-top, outright blaming Gao for “ruining the game”, before seeping into even more unsavoury territory. The actress initially deactivated comments on Instagram, preventing people from leaving their thoughts, but has since nuked her entire account, with only a single post remaining as of the time of writing.
It should go without saying, whatever your thoughts on Ada Wong’s new voice actress, you should keep them polite and respectful. It’s one thing to express your opinion on a fictional character, but it’s another entirely to effectively harass an actress for not meeting your personal expectations. Gao seemed genuinely excited to assume the role of this iconic character, but we daresay that moment’s been tainted now.
[source resetera.com]
Comments 97
It is never, ever acceptable, and it's always scary when you see it.
Some people are just pathetic beyond comprehension
Imagine harassing a person because of a fricking video game...
Or actually, imagine harassing a person at all...
To be honest yeah I don't think her performance was very good it was really flat and kinda wooden but the people harassing her can get f worded. There is absolutely no excuse for this behaviour and you're disgusting if you do it, it's one thing to just voice an opinion and say oh personally I didn't care for her performance and another to be a vile scumbag and directly go after, bully and harrase these people just never learn 😑
I wish I could say I was surprised by this. Some people just suck.
It's almost as bad when Kiefer Sutherland ( Canadian) replaced David Hayter ( also Canadian) as the voice of Solid Snake.
So, MGS's all American Genome solider is based on a Canadian.
I had to check online when I first heard the voice as I thought it sounded different to what I remembered from RE2 Remake. I thought it a shame it has changed so soon from a continuity standpoint but very quickly disregarded it.
If the rumoured Ada dlc is true I’ll be getting it day one.
Needless to say this kind of behaviour is repugnant.
Ah, lovely. Internet, the cesspool of human society. Yikes…
VAs are getting alot of hate recently. It will always be hard to replace the originals but no need to for this nonsense. The missus isnt a fan of Sepharoths or Zachs new voice but she didnt go and bother the VAs about it, she just constantly reminded me that she prefers the OG. Hopefully theres some form of retribution for her against these idiots
Race related right?!?
What is wrong with people.
I’ve not played it yet. But RE VA has always been a bit off…. Part of the charm no?!?
That famous Barry scene. Lol
People got angry when a black man played a white character (rest in peace Lance), now they're upset that an Asian is playing an Asian? What are they even mad about?
People really need to know that it’s just a video game. There’s more things happening right now to be more upset over.
Like other people here I think her voice acting was bad, but that absolutely does not give me or anyone the right to harass her.
@ATaco I haven't played the game, but maybe she just wasn't very good and some people go over the top with their criticism?
Don't you see the hate Last of Us Part 2 got because a character they loved was killed?
They didn't hate Abby because she was white lol
I didn't even realize Ada's voice actor was changed, but she gave a good performance IMO, it's okay to disagree, but THIS, this is inexcusable and childish behavior, she certainly doesn't deserve hateful comments and death threats over her performance.
These losers attacking her shouldn't even have access to the internet, they're truly pathetic.
@PSXDave Kiefer did an awesome job as Big Boss. If only Kojima had the money and influence to hire him in 2004 as well so there is one less pointless drama in the world.
Removed - unconstructive
There's something broken in the minds of these people. It's like they're animals that somehow learned human language. Even on the Twitter account for Tchia, you get people being rude, aggressive and insulting. Imagine playing a cute indie game where you play as a little girl trying to save her dad, singing nice songs, and flying around a beautiful tropical island as a bird, then somehow getting so angry you need to go on the internet and tell the devs they're sh*t or whatever. Utterly bizarre.
@ATaco.... bad acting. 🤷♂️
Social Media... spreading the worst of humanity since its inception. Frankly, every social media site needs to be shut down completely. All it does is spread toxic behavior.
@ATaco - Honestly the people who get upset over a white person playing a black person OR a black person playing a white person OR anything similar, are already such a small minority of Karens that I don't know why people even acknowledge them or give them the time of day.
I mean did anyone truly care that Apu or Carl from The Simpsons were played by white people? Same for Cleveland from Family Guy? Kevin Michael Richardson; a very talented voce actor, he's black and has played many white characters across every medium, and no one cared, but now? It's considered racist for some stupid reason, hell Doctor's & Dieticians can't even say 'fat' or 'overweight' without fearing they may lose their job, I heard a female teacher lost her job because she refused to play along with a student who identified as a cat... I don't know, too many snowflakes these days.
Comment Threads on Social Media were a mistake and this is why.
@Relygon Took the words right out of my mouth.
The gaming community has to change. I feel that ever since 2020 it's just getting worse and worse and I don't want to be part of any gaming community anymore cause of the hate. Pushsquare and ign are the only places I get gaming news nowadays
I mean she was too serious for the role but does it justify harassment? Absolutely not! Besides people who say she ruined the remake are dumb , the remake is amazing as is
@Matroska They are people that clearly wouldnt face up to a fist fight.
This kind of **** just makes me sad and embarrassed to be associated with the games industry even only as a fan. ☹️
@Matroska It's straight up mental illness. We have generations of kids now that have grown up in the toxic internet environments and think that's how people are supposed to act. They never matured past a middle school mentality because actual good roll models are so few and far between.
From "so-called" fans? Please. This is what we do. Fanship is aggressive, obsessive and possessive by nature - variations only happen based on the amount of control a given fan's human host can exert at a given time. Lose the grip, and this is one of the many ugly consequences. Online disinhibition syndrome only serves to add fuel.
I echo some of the same sentiments here in that her performance was bad, really bad honestly. That said I'm sure she did the best that she could, it's on Capcom to find people that are professionally trained to voice act not on her.
I wish her success on her future endeavors and hope the trolls get bored fast and move on to something else. But she should not voice act again until she takes some professional voice lessons.
Absolutely disgusting. There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever to be so horrible to another human being. Appalling behaviour.
@The_Pixel_King What if the human being that's being harassed likes to talk while chewing food?
Don't think I'll ever understand some people, just not possible to get my head round it. Over such petty little things too. The Internet will never change unfortunately
This is why I’m a proud misanthrope.
@Starkei ah yes because the original PS2 game and RE2 Remake had Oscar worthy performances.
always shocking when you realise just how ridiculous some people are.... l haven't played it yet, but I'm looking forward to playing it!
If you don’t like a performance someone has done, that’s okay, but don’t have to be nasty about it.
@nhSnork Well said, it's humanity at its barest form. You remove all the built in societal safety nets of real human integrity and these instances will always show up.
I don't think this is reflective of gamers, just a reminder that there are plenty of awful people and always will be.
@RubyCarbuncle nah, “gamers” were a mistake .
While I think it's perfectly fine to not like somebody's performance and to express that in a respectful, non-emotional manner I'd also suggest in this case that maybe people wait until after the Separate Ways DLC as Ada really isn't in the main game enough.
Harassment is never ok and seems especially dumb in this case. I wish they would've kept Jolene Anderson but it is what it is, the voice actress isn't the one who made the casting change and we don't know how they directed this young lady to act, she's just following a script. The ones in this case who the fans should direct their anger at are the devs but again I'd say keep it professional.
Overall, the game seems to be getting more negative feedback than I thought it would and unfortunately it seems Gao took the brunt. The whole 'it ruined the game' nonsense is especially ridiculous. The visual, gameplay and frame rate issues are a bigger deal and hopefully get patched.
@Keyblade-Dan
Yeah, her vocal delivery was so emotionless and subdued. She spoke in a quiet monotone voice which made her sound bored. It was as if she was doing the bare minimum and had no interest in doing the job.
how-are-you-handsome. see-you-later-handsome.
@Keyblade-Dan @OneWingedAngel The voice acting is actually well done. Aida's character strikes me as jaded and cynical, which the subdued performance accurately delivered. Emphasis on acting. Not everyone needs an over exited Japanese schoolgirl voice
@ATaco Your comment has nothing to do with why she is getting unnecessary vile comments
@JustPlainLoco Because instead of being about acting they want "representation" for those actors when you are never going to see them on screen.
And another example of why the gaming community is still considered "the typical white straight dude". We need more diversity within the industry, and companies should be more communicative about it. Sadly, this is a reminder we have tons of work ahead Good will prevail though, or that's what I choose to believe, and i truly feel sad for the actress. It is sickening
This behavior is flat out unacceptable. I can’t imagine what goes through one’s mind when they post these rude and harmful remarks. We should all lift each other up, not push another down
Some people are simply garbage and there's nothing more to them than that.
Some fans are just bunch of keyboard fake ganster.bitching about everything.wtf.word up son
@Uncharted2007 excalty, came here to say that, these people are horribly toxic, this voice actor doesn't need twitter she did the right thing deleting the account if that if what she did
@CallMeDuraSouka it's not about gamers alone - excessive attachment to anything can breed this kind of mentality that proceeds to bring out some of the worst in people, be it fiction like games/books/shows/movies or events like sports. The word "fan" itself is traced in equal measure from "fanatic" and "fancy", aka obsessions and whims. When we stop to think about it, what good is expectable to come from blending the two? The examples usually ascribed to fanship to the point of sharing morphology (fanfiction, fanarts etc) are actually instances where the human manages to overpower the unhinged hunger within and, rather than try soiling others' moods/lives with their vocal craving for another dose of what once hooked them hard, convert this energy into creative "self-service" that can fulfil their cravings on the DIY basis and, in uncountable incidents, produce worthwhile results that a whole lot more people around can come to resonate with (sometimes including the original work's creators themselves). Not to mention how many folks eventually find this experience to be a stairway to their very own non-derivative creative endeavours and achievements in the future.
Alas, when centered on just getting new "doses" and left to steer the person's behaviour unchecked, fanship is an innately egocentric destructive force. As, indeed, are a good number of mentalities out there.
Once again proving that social media was one of the worst developments of the last decade.
In the hands of those that can be trusted to act responsibly, its great, but there are too many people that behave irresponsibly and shamefully online who do nothing but spread hatred.
It would be fascinating to see a profile of those that continue to do this if their identities were ever revealed. Should be named and shamed.
Honestly, how embarrassing. They should be ashamed. Imagine getting so worked up over a game. They are going to fall apart the moment they come up against real problems
Humans shouldn't be allowed to communicate with anyone they don't personally know. Mass communication never should have existed
@Uncharted2007 its not just kids though..i know adults the same age as myself who think its ok to behave this way. Its sad i know but its true.
Some much awful stuff going on in the world that people could, legitimately, protest.
War, corruption, economic collapse.
And "Gamers" choose this.
Pathetic.
It’s awful how people can be so toxic. Nobody should go through this.
Imagine being a Resident Evil fan and being outraged by bad voice acting, to the point of harassment.
People are idiots, you should never ever harass someone for something like this. Harass the company instead, they're the ones who decided to change the VA in the first place.
On another note, she does kinda suck on RE4, Ada sounds like one of those AI voices from text to speech applications.
Had no idea it was an issue. Thought she was a good Ada
I thought it was a miscast for sure but I'd never abuse a VA. She sounded like a high schooler that says the word 'like' every other word.
Perhaps some constructive criticism for Capcoms casting but to abuse the VA? Not acceptable.
Maaan...can't people just have their opinions without going right to the person and harassing them? They don't need to hear that. They don't deserve any of that, just leave people alone.
She wasn't terrible, it's just that she wasn't good. Hopefully she does better in the DLC (if she even still wants to voice Ada), she didn't ruin the game, it's still a masterpiece. God, social media just sucks. I see a poster on here saying they don't like TLOU because it displays the worst of humanity, which is cool and respect to that, but you wanna see a close second to the worst we have to offer? Social media. Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, whatever, you will easily find the most degenerate people.
Obviously awful behavior, however the VA on Ada is really bizarre. Makes sense it's a different actress to 2, I was wondering why it hadn't bothered me there.
A point on this that I feel is rarely made, some of the blame should be pointed at the director and their VA direction. If it's not hitting tonally, it's not just an actors fault. It's someones responsibility to correctly project to the talent how to give the performance they want. And if it's not working at all, they can recast.
I heard the voice of ada in new re4 remake, her voice sound really boring in the game, it's like she didn't feel like acting and just using her lazy voice. The old ada voice actor is way, waaay better than this, I wish capcom replace her with ada old voice actor.
I don’t get what the criticism is? I played it and didn’t see anything offensive.
Dislike the performance all you want but never attack a person over it.
@OneWingedAngel it’s been a while but that is exactly what Ada was in the original. She was bored and half interested.
im loving the game and honestly..i seen nothing wrong with the new actress performance. this woman did just as good as the original voice actress. lily gao...hold your head high!
Resident Evil never had great acting anyway. But as a gamer im getting somewhat ashamed that people keep acting like this.
If you dont like something remember there are enough real problems in the world to get mad about. Stop attacking actors maybe in the future nobody wants to act in video games and who would blame them.
Stop herassing actors and actresses over such trivial things you give us gamers a bad name. I love gaming but not the gamers especially the group who keeps doing these things.
Just keep if civil I didn't like the new Resident Evil movie but i didnt go out my way to harass the actors why because there are more important things and its nuts.
@Nepp67 your response to my comment and then your response just below it are sending mixed messages. Which side are you playing for, exactly?
@GreatAuk oh I remember the hate for Abby. How could I forget that people were saying she "looks too much like a man" or whatever things like that? People really can be that fickle with their complaints.
Her performance really was miserable. Still, take your grievances to the company, not the actor. It's their fault they accepted that quality of work.
Never okay to harass actors just doing their jobs. As far as the recast goes, was the change necessary? I don't think so being Ada has no Chinese accent but it is what it is.
@Uncharted2007 You want to hear the sad and funny part? In this case, it's not kids but manchildren harassing the actress. You're right that GenZ have more mental illness issues because of social media and they have their own toxic thing going on but here, I presume it's millennials who played the original RE4 on release.
@ATaco They're not the same people. People criticised the casting for Wesker in that live action but I don't recall people going and harassing Lance. In fact, half of those people praised Lance as the only good actor in that show in the end and he was. There were even jokes asking if his back was OK from being the sole person carrying the entire show. Lol
In this case, it's definitely not because she's Asian because Ada is Asian herself. As you see from comments here, most people don't like her voice. However, these manchildren have taken it too far.
The differences with the comments here is that people are just saying "yeah the voice acting sucked for her, hopefully they get a better voice actor next time" whereas those losers elsewhere think it's acceptable to go and directly harass the actress.
Well Capcom hired her so they should criticise them but not by harassing them or sending death threats either. But these people don't seem to know the difference between civil criticism and genuine harassment.
Hell, I hope Capcom actually rehire her now just to annoy these losers some more.
@spcspc I see that your outright anti-straight white male hatred won’t get flagged by this site’s mods. Heck, they’re most likely nodding in agreement with you.
@NEStalgia How would you then get to personally know anyone outside your immediate family?
@Nathan People managed to do that just fine for 5000+ years before Internet forums were invented and reduced us to this... 😂
Losers with way too much time on their hands.
People suck. People on the Internet suck even more.
@BearsEatBeets we had better hope that she's already recorded all of the dialogue for the DLC. I can't see her wanting to come back after what she's experiencing.
I mean, just imagine, she's probably already fairly devastated that her performance is being picked apart as one of the only weak things in an otherwise magnificent game. But then you get ***** going after her personally. Unreal.
@NEStalgia Yes I know. But the way you worded your comment conveyed a differing idea of not communicating with anyone you don’t know, full stop. You didn’t mention whether online or real life interaction.
@ATaco Easy to hate such a character though
Can terrible people just choose to take a vacation just once? Stop harassing others and get a life. Humanity is so broken.
I had a listen ,haven't got the game yet ,she's a bit wooden ,but I've heard far far worse ,disgusting behaviour, im thinking maybe its just kids who don't know any better ,but in reality ,its probabaly 40 somethings, screbs of the earth.
@Ryu_Niiyama evil is always resident
Humanity is sick. People making death threats, cursing others because a game...
T wats now? Thought she did gr8
Jesus people, left the VA alone, they have nothing to do with it. That level of hostility is not acceptable at all.
HOWEVER The new VA for Ada is in fact terrible, she sounds like an 58 year old chainsmoker, I was waiting for her to say something like "Leon be a dear and pour ol' Ada some brandy"
I know I'm being dramatic but it IS a massive downgrade from RE2, not to mention that she is very boring, mumbling her lines in emotionless monotones.
I have no thoughts one way or the other. Never played Resident evil. Thought she did an OK job in the movie. Some people destroy games or franchises so badly though that they deserve to be mocked and ridiculed into a corner as they cry uncontrollably. Anyone associated with that garbage tlou 2 is a prime example.
@AJP49ers If she hasn't already done her work for the DLC I would hope she doesn't allow these emotionally stunted idiots to influence her.
I personally think she did exactly what she was directed to do and sound cold, cynical and detached. Like I said, I look to forward to playing her DLC if it comes.
@tameshiyaku Don't be disingenuous no one's expecting a "Japanese Highschool girl voice" Ada is supposed to be charismatic and a sexy flirtatious femme fatale especially when she's around Leon not jaded and bored this actress was just a block of wood as far as her performance goes. Again screw the people harassing her but she was awful as Ada
Pretty disgusting. These people should think about how she feels, put themselves in her shoes. How would they feel if hordes of people attacked them for just doing their job?
I've only just started playing RE4 and I don't see what the issue is with her voice? Sounds normal and believable to me. Those who take these game changes too personally have serious mental issues.
If they replaced her voice with a male or over the top cartoon voice, then that would be silly. But not silly enough to personally target the voice actor. There's bigger issues in the world at the moment than someones voice.
who the hell let the beta-incels out again??????
@Keyblade-Dan to be fair, during the boat ride to the island her delivery was quite flat, but in the previous chapters it didn't strike me so bad.
@EhronLocke oh I dunno. Probably in the same place that it touched the 50% of ND employees that quit while working on the garbage. If half your workforce quits a good paying job then it's time to wake up and realize you're on the wrong path.
Like everyone else has been saying, truly disgraceful that anyone would say such mean words.
Unfortunately with the anonymity of the internet, bound to happen.
@Arisen Here here
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