Leslie Jones Reacts to ‘Ghostbusters’ Troll Getting Deported

SNL alum Leslie Jones is sharing her reaction to the news that ICE detained and deported Milo Yiannopoulos, the former Breitbart editor who relentlessly trolled her during the rollout of 2016’s Ghostbusters, to the U.K.

“I’m not surprised at none of it,” Jones told Obsessed: The Podcast. “Because what did you think was gonna happen? ‘You reap what you sow’ is a real thing. And so I don’t have no opinion on it, you know. God bless him. I hope he figures it out. That’s really how I feel in my heart. I don’t be having no hate.”

Yiannopoulos—along with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump—was the driving force behind a coordinated campaign of hate against the all-female Ghostbusters reboot that also starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon. Twitter (now X) banned him after the MAGA groupie spewed racist and sexist abuse at Jones, and Jones herself took a break from the site following the onslaught of harassment she received.

Yiannopoulos is a Cambridge University dropout, a self-described internet “troll,” and now, after overstaying his U.S. visa and missing a mandatory immigration court hearing, a U.K. resident. His deportation falls under Jones’ philosophy of “what goes around, comes around.”

“When everything happens, when all this evil stuff, I believe in God,” she said. “I really do believe. I have a relationship with God, not a religion with God, because that’s not what it’s about. But I would always say, like, ‘God, what are you gonna do? Like, are you gonna do something? This is bad.’”

But she recognizes that “these people are making moves that are gonna put them in a place.”

“When you contribute to your downfall, I don’t have to do anything,” Jones continued. “The only thing I have to do is move on. Move on, get on with my life, because that person is doing enough bad and evil that that’s gonna end up turning on them anyway.”

Jones, who currently hosts the HGTV show Roast My Rental, knows how to handle online hate. Her childhood gave her armor against insults, and her experience in the entertainment industry taught her how to respond to trolling. Now, she finds it funny when her harassers face the consequences of their actions.

Still, the insults often hurt in the moment, she said.

“They don’t know that I’m a Black kid that grew up in a Black neighborhood. Some of the insults y’all saying ain’t really... I’ve heard so much worse,” she said.

When the Ghostbusters trolling was at its height, a lot of people told Jones to “just ignore it,” she said. Instead, Jones ignored that advice.

“You don’t ignore it. You let them know I see your nasty face,” she said. “When I was getting stuff on Twitter, I was loving it. I was screenshotting it and reposting it. ‘Hey, look at your son, your best friend. Look at what they’re doing.’ Because some people don’t know that you can’t just do stuff in the dark. I’m exposing you!”

Jones said she even once fired a lawyer because he told her to “become the victim” if she wanted legal success.

“I’m not a f---ing victim. I’m not a victim,” she said. “I’ve never been a victim. The f--- does that mean? No, I fight. This happened to me. I’m fighting.”