--- title: Melissa McCarthy Shuts Down 'Ghostbusters' Sexist Critics description: Melissa McCarthy responded to negative critics who claim the new 'Ghostbusters' movie is "destroying their childhood." canonical: https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/ author: Robin Hilmantel article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-31T16:00:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:37.216Z og:title: Melissa McCarthy Just Shut Down Everyone's Sexist Criticisms of the New Ghostbusters og:description: Why she wants people to stop saying the movie is ruining their childhood og:url: https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt596e2a3b0c644013/698895a7524fc03683df8378/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexist-critics.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2016 Time 100 Gala, Time's Most Influential People In The World - Cocktails og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melissa McCarthy Just Shut Down Everyone's Sexist Criticisms of the New Ghostbusters twitter:description: Why she wants people to stop saying the movie is ruining their childhood twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt596e2a3b0c644013/698895a7524fc03683df8378/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexist-critics.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melissa McCarthy Just Shut Down Everyone's Sexist Criticisms of the New _Ghostbusters_ by [Robin Hilmantel](https://time.com/author/robin-hilmantel/) ## Robin Hilmantel May 31, 2016 4:00 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Actress Melissa McCarthy attends 2016 Time 100 Gala, Time's Most Influential People In The World red carpet at Jazz At Lincoln Center at the Times Warner Center on April 26, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Actress Melissa McCarthy attends 2016 Time 100 Gala, Time's Most Influential People In The World red carpet at Jazz At Lincoln Center at the Times Warner Center on April 26, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time)Jemal Countess—Time/Getty Images by [Robin Hilmantel](https://time.com/author/robin-hilmantel/) ## Robin Hilmantel May 31, 2016 4:00 PM UTC Not everyone is excited about the _Ghostbusters_ reboot coming this July: As of this writing, [the trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ugHP-yZXw) had about three times as many negative votes as positive ones on YouTube, and the comments section was filled with sexist remarks, such as, “WHY?seriously why? why not just make a normal Ghostbusters? looks terrible.” In her recent profile in [_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/28/melissa-mccarthy-love-woman-doesnt-play-rules-ghostbusters), _Ghostbusters_ star Melissa McCarthy had a message for the haters: “All those comments—‘You’re ruining my childhood!’ I mean, really,” McCarthy told the newspaper. “Four women doing any movie on earth will destroy your childhood. I have a visual of those people not having a Ben, not having friends, so they’re just sitting there and spewing hate into this fake world of the internet. I just hope they find a friend.” [_Follow Motto on Facebook_.](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/) McCarthy also discussed many of the accepted “rules” in Hollywood—such as that women can’t play comedic leads or that actresses have to be a certain size—and why she thinks they’re baloney. “I mean, you just have to think, why not?” she said. Hear, hear! Head over to _The Guardian_ to read [the full profile of McCarthy](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/28/melissa-mccarthy-love-woman-doesnt-play-rules-ghostbusters). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/"},"headline":"Melissa McCarthy Just Shut Down Everyone's Sexist Criticisms of the New Ghostbusters","datePublished":"2016-05-31T16:00:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:37.216Z","description":"Why she wants people to stop saying the movie is ruining their childhood","url":"https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/","keywords":["motto","movies","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt596e2a3b0c644013/698895a7524fc03683df8378/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexist-critics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Robin Hilmantel","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/robin-hilmantel/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt596e2a3b0c644013/698895a7524fc03683df8378/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexist-critics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Time 100 Gala, Time's Most Influential People In The World - Cocktails","caption":"2016 Time 100 Gala, Time's Most Influential People In The World - Cocktails","creditText":"Jemal Countess—Time/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4352318/melissa-mccarthy-ghostbusters-sexism/","name":"Melissa McCarthy Just Shut Down Everyone's Sexist Criticisms of the New Ghostbusters"}}]}] ```