Milana Vayntrub, who portrays Lily Adams in AT&T commercials, wants the online harassment against her to stop.
In an Instagram livestream that has since been reposted to Twitter, Vayntrub emotionally discussed how old photos of her have been manipulated into memes that generate lewd and vile responses.
“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,” Vayntrub said in her livestream. “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.”
Vayntrub, who was the AT&T spokesman from 2013 to 2016, returned this year with a new set of commercials touting working from home and video chatting with iPhones and 5G. Additionally, she’s done more than 40 spots for the company over her tenure, and also played “Squirrel Girl” in the Marvel Rising animated specials and for a TV pilot not ordered to series.
AT&T issued a statement backing Vayntrub.
“We will not tolerate the inappropriate comments and harassment of Milana Vayntrub, the talented actor that portrays Lily in our ads. We have disabled or deleted these comments on our social content that includes Lily and we will continue to fight to support her and our values, which appreciate and respect all women.”
