Ben Platt on the ‘horrific’ trolling he experienced after Dear Evan Hansen movie

Actor quit Twitter after deciding the platform is ‘almost exclusively for tearing people down’

Ben Platt has reflected on the trolling he experienced after last year’s film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.

The actor may have won a Best Actor prize at the Tony Awards for his performance as high school student Evan Hansen in the Broadway musical, but the film adaptation was not so well received.

Before it even came out, the film’s trailer was ridiculed on social media, with many pointing out that Platt, then 27, was too old to play teenager. In May 2021, the actor responded on Twitter, calling out “randos being jerks about age”.

The film has a 29 per cent rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave the film two stars in her review, writing that it was “one giant gamble that’s quite disastrously failed to pay off”.

In a new interview with The New York Times, Platt, 29, said: “It was definitely a disappointing experience, and difficult, and it definitely opened my eyes to the internet and how horrific it can be.”

He continued: “You’d think, after doing Dear Evan Hansen on stage for four years, I would have already known that.

Ben Platt in ‘Dear Evan Hansen' (Universal)

“I try my best to focus on people who tell me it was moving to them and they really felt seen by it. It is very easy for the good to get drowned out by the bad.”

Platt has since deleted his Twitter account, after reaching the conclusion that the platform is “almost exclusively for tearing people down”.