Naughty Dog "condemns" any harassment towards its team and cast

Naughty Dog recently released a statement saying that it "condemns" any harassment or threats directed towards its team or cast.

The statement was published by the official Naughty Dog Twitter page. You can read it below.

"Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast," it reads. "Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse."

This comes in the wake of a barrage of harassment aimed at the studio and the people who work there. Although the initial backlash was mostly tied to review-bombing The Last of Us Part 2 on Metacritic, people online have since started to individually target certain team and cast members directly.

Laura Bailey, the renowned voice actress who plays Abby in The Last of Us Part 2, has individually received multiple threats and insults from anonymous people online in relation to her performance.

"Man. I try to only post positive stuff on here," she wrote, attaching several screenshots of messages she received. "But sometimes this just gets a little overwhelming. I blacked out some of the words cuz, ya know, spoilers."

"Side note. Thank you to all the people sending me positive messages to balance it out. It means more than I can say."

Naughty Dog as a whole has been targeted ever since plot points of The Last of Us Part 2 leaked back in April, almost two months before the game actually launched. Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann said that the leaks contributed to the "worst day of [his] life," but the targeted harassment towards the studio and its employees has yet to stop. He posted his own thread displaying some of the vile, hateful messages he has received since shipping the game.

"You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it," he wrote. "Unfortunately too many of the messages I've been getting are vile, hateful, & violent."

The harassment is ongoing, but Naughty Dog's condemnation shows that the studio will not tolerate any hateful messages sent to its employees.