Black Mirror: Bandersnatch actor leaves Twitter to focus on mental health

Okay internet, what did you say this time?

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch actor Will Poulter will “step back” from Twitter to focus on his “mental health” in the wake of some presumably negative reactions to his appearance in the buzzy Netflix movie.

Poulter played game developer Colin Ritman in the trippy 90-minute-to-5-hours-long Choose-Your-Own-Breakfast-Cereal-Before-Disposing-of-Corpses adventure.

“In light of my recent experiences, I am choosing to take a step back, of sorts, from Twitter,” read the announcement. “It’s been a delight to learn that so many of you enjoyed what many people worked very hard to produce. “There are positives to enjoy and inevitable negatives that are best avoided. It’s a balance I have struggled with for a while now and in the interest of my mental health I feel the time has come to change my relationship with social media.”

Continued the actor: “I don’t want to appear unappreciative of all the amazing support I have received online for which I am genuinely so grateful…I am privileged to have this platform. I hope that this shift to reduce my personal expression and increase the focus on issues that matter will result in a better outcome for everyone. This is not the end. Consider it an alternative path. With love, Will.”

Poulter did not say how long he’d be away, but added he would still be posting on behalf of the campaigns and charities, such as an anti-bullying organization.

Poulter got his first break landing a key role in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and also appeared in The Revenant and The Maze Runner franchise. As Colin, Poulter played an arrogant drug-loving game developer in 1984 who advises Bandersnatch‘s troubled protagonist Stefan (Fionn Whitehead). The interactive film has become a sensation in terms of audience engagement, though the story itself has had some mixed reactions.

The actor’s Detroit co-star John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) tweeted this encouraging reply:

Other actors that have either outright quit or taken social media breaks after receiving blowback on the platform include Ruby Rose, Ariana Grande, Pete Davidson, Millie Bobby Brown, Cardi B, Armie Hammer, and Ed Sheeran.

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