New Warriors, AT&T Commercial Star Milana Vayntrub Speaks Out After Online Harassment

Milana Vayntrub is speaking out over targeted harassment she's received recently, harassment [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

Milana Vayntrub is speaking out over targeted harassment she's received recently, harassment that's increased of late after old photos of her have been converted into memes that have gone viral on various social media platforms over the past week. In a recent Instagram Live video, Vayntrub — best known for her work on AT&T commercials and for being cast as both the live-action and animated Squirrel Girl for Marvel Television — tried speaking out on the harassment, only for her to cut the live short as the harassment continued in the comments of the stream.

"Maybe it just has to do with being a person on the internet, or maybe it's specific to being a woman on the internet," Vthe star said on the stream, which has since been removed. "But all of these comments… it hurts my feelings. I'm hurting and it's bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault. I am just like, you know, walking my dog and getting messages from people who have distorted my pictures to get likes on their accounts."

The harassment then carried over onto AT&T's social media accounts, where pictures of Vayntrub — who returned to the company as a spokesperson earlier this year — resided. The comments on those pictures have since been removed and the comments have been disabled. Prior to the disabling, AT&T commented on the photos that it's vehemently against sexual harassment of employees in the workplace or on their social media channels.

At one point not so long ago, Vayntrub was attached to Freeform's New Warriors series. Originally ordered to series, Freeform soon removed it from the schedule. Then, Marvel sources said the pilot — which was filmed in complete secrecy — tested very well with executives at Disney. "We are extremely excited about Marvel's New Warriors and look forward to finding the perfect partner to launch the series with in 2018," Marvel Entertainment Dan Buckley said at the time.

Along with Vayntrub, Keith David, Derek Theler (Mr. Immortal), Jeremy Tardy (Night Thrasher), Calum Worthy (Speedball), Matthew Moy (Microbe), and Kate Comer (Debrii) were also set to appear in the half-hour comedy.

Cover photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for WarnerMedia Company

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