Ruby Rose deletes Twitter account amid ‘Batwoman’ backlash over casting
The DC Comics heroes depicted on The CW network have faced all manner of foes, but one of the most insidious may be social media.
Days after The CW announced the casting of actress Ruby Rose as Batwoman — a role that she said was a childhood dream to play — Rose quit Twitter. She posted Saturday that she was deleting her account to focus on her next two projects, but part of the decision was likely related to a backlash by some fans against her casting.
DC Comics reintroduced the character of Kate Kane, who fights crime as Batwoman, in 2006. Kate was presented as a wealthy socialite who had a past relationship with Renee Montoya, an ex-police detective in Gotham City. A later story revealed Kate is Jewish.
The complaints about the casting of Rose included assertions she is not a lesbian, is not Jewish and does not have the acting skills to play the role. Rose said she was baffled by the first statement, posting on Twitter before she deleted her account that she “came out at 12” and spent the last five years being told she was “too gay” for certain roles: “How do y’all flip like that? I didn’t change.”
Batwoman will appear on The CW this winter, during the annual crossover of the network’s series featuring DC Comics characters. A spinoff series starring the character is also being developed.
Rose began her career in her native Australia as a model, TV host and actress. In 2015, she joined the cast of “Orange Is the New Black” on Netflix, and appeared on movie screens in “Pitch Perfect 3” last year and “The Meg” this year.
She is also a recording artist; the 2014 video for her song “Break Free” explored gender roles and “what it is like to have an identity that deviates from the status quo,” she said in an interview with Australian Cosmo. In that same piece, she described herself as gender fluid.
Rose joins the growing list of female celebrities who have been harassed on social media. Comedian Leslie Jones was targeted on Twitter because of her role in the female reboot of “Ghostbusters,” and Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” was driven off Instagram by racists and sexual harassment. One of Rose’s soon-to-be colleagues was also a recent target for online harassment: Grant Gustin, who plays the Flash on that CW series, was subjected to body shaming when a leaked photo of the actor, in a new costume, was posted and drew comments that he looked too thin. Gustin posted on Instagram: “I’m happy with my body and who I am and other kids who are built like me and thinner than me should be able to feel the same way.”
The character of Batwoman was introduced to DC Comics in 1956 as part of a parade of additions to Batman’s supporting cast, including Ace the BatHound (1955), Bat-Mite (1959) and Bat-Girl (1961).