The New Mutants Director Deletes Instagram Following Film’s Debut

At long last, The New Mutants has arrived, serving as one of the only new features cinema-goers can see for the immediate future alongside Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Response to the long-gestating film has been lukewarm with fans and critics alike and, thanks to the wonders of social media, the film has already become a massive meme. The response has also garnered a variety of responses from those involved in the production of the flick, like Maisie Williams’ super-meta tweet about a poor review. Then there’s director Josh Boone, who made the choice to delete his Instagram profile early Saturday.

As noticed by some eagle-eyed Mutants fans, Boone’s Instagram profile has been deactivated, likely due to the swarms of comments and direct messages the filmmaker was receiving on the platform.

Earlier in the week, Boone’s name continued to circulate online due to a haphazard response to claims he white-washed one of the movie’s lead characters. Then, shortly after release, New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod slammed the filmmaker’s interpretation of the iconic comics characters.

“I was very excited when I heard they were making a New Mutants movie,” McLeod said in a lengthy Facebook post. “I thought making it into a horror movie was perhaps an interesting idea, but not at all how the characters should be introduced to the public at large. But, hey, my characters in a movie! I never would have thought that would actually happen.”

Furthermore, McLeod expressed immense displeasure in the movie studio spelling his name wrong in the film’s closing credits.

“But then, I was disappointed when they didn’t give Dani braids, although I like Blu Hunt,” he added. “I was disappointed when Rahne wasn’t a redhead with spiky hair, although I adore Maisie Williams. I was disappointed that Sam isn’t tall and gawky, although I do like Charlie Heaton. But mainly I was very disappointed that Roberto isn’t short and dark-skinned. Yet another example of Hollywood white-washing. There’s just no excuse. So basically, Josh Boone erased everything I contributed to the way the characters look. And now, the movie has come out at last, and apparently they’ve credited someone named Bob Macleod as co-creator. They couldn’t even be bothered to check the spelling of my name sometime in the last three years. And that can’t be fixed. That will be on the movie forever. I think I’m done with this movie.”

The New Mutants is now in theaters.

Cover photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images