Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been one of the most important and influential releases 2023. The game was the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation exclusive, selling 2.5 million units in just 24 hours. People were all praises for the title and Insomniac’s work on it.
Shortly after, a tragedy followed as the game’s developer studio suffered a massive privacy breach with Terabytes of data leaked online. Just weeks after the tragedy, the actor who played Mary Jane in the video game voiced how her work in the title and the subsequent popularity has led to traumatizing consequences in her personal life. The actress took to social media to express her sentiments.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Mary Jane actress Stephanie Tyler Jones’ statement
The actress, who has worked as a face model in both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, took to Instagram and posted a story to express how she felt unsafe and harassed after the game’s release by some followers. This was because of some problematic individuals about whom she wrote:
Dear Spider-Man fans, I appreciate the love for my role in the Spider-Man games and the positive response to my version of MJ has gotten over the years. However, I am no longer an actively auditioning actor or model. The shoots I do now are purely a creative outlet for myself and a way to collaborate with friends I love.
Sharing some details from the utterly deplorable event that led to this decision, the actress wrote:
Over the weekend, some followers crossed boundaries. One even went to the extent of calling my workplace and leaving multiple voicemails wanting to speak with me and requesting I call back, which is unacceptable and considered stalking.
In the entire message, an entire paragraph worth of information about how specific individuals who don’t know where to draw the line have also been plaguing her skincare account! It is more than problematic that someone would engage in such acts, which are most undoubtedly punishable by the law as they come under stalking.
What is even more unfortunate and saddening is that an individual who has done nothing wrong has had to quit their profession of choice because of some stalkers who don’t know when to rest. One can only imagine how utterly traumatizing all of it must be for the victim.
It is true that these people who aren’t even fit to be called “fans” but should be called stalkers instead cannot understand what someone’s private space consists of. Right after the actress posted the story, James Stevenson, Director of Community and Marketing at Insomniac Games, rightly posted on Twitter in support. Without naming the actress and instead making it a general statement for everyone who has a public image, he wrote that:
I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t harass game developers, voice actors, mo-cap performers, or face models (or anyone else). Don’t message them directly, and especially don’t track down phone numbers or personal information in an attempt to contact them.
While many players have had problems with how Mary Jane’s missions were structured in the game, it takes a different kind of crazy to cross boundaries and subject a human doing their job to such harassment. It is always deeply saddening when anything of this sort comes to light, and what is worse is that this isn’t the first time a public figure’s privacy and personal life have been invaded.
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