Insecure may have garnered a passionate fanbase, but those fans weren’t always doting, says star Jay Ellis, who claims a woman once slapped him out of hatred for his character Lawrence. Insecure gained its army of stans–some more composed than others–over the course of its five-season run on HBO. Created by and starring Issa Rae, the comedy series follows the ups and downs of Issa and her friends coming into adulthood in South Los Angeles.
In addition to Rae, Insecure stars Yvonne Orji, Natasha Rothwell, and Amanda Seales. Jay Ellis is an original cast member, having joined Insecure in season 1 as Issa’s live-in boyfriend Lawrence. At the outset of the series, Lawrence is an unemployed, uninspired couch potato. Over the course of the show, Lawrence undergoes a series of changes, morphing from adrift twenty-something to hapless lothario to settled father, until he ultimately reunites with Issa at the end of season 5.
Now, Jay Ellis has taken to Twitter to share the real-life perils of playing such a polarizing character. According to the actor, a woman once “slapped me in the face at the airport” in an anti-Lawrence rage. Apparently, it was Lawrence’s behavior in season 3 that sent her over the edge. Check out Ellis’ funny, understandably bitter tweet below:
Lawrence was only in four episodes of Insecure’s third season, with Ellis briefly demoted from main character to recurring. That was apparently enough to incense the rabid fan. Perhaps she was angry at the character's return, much like the critics who felt his absence allowed Issa to flourish. Or maybe it was Lawrence’s re-emergence as an STI-sharing womanizer. In any case, Ellis’ tweet led to a deluge of responses, some standing up for the #LawrenceHive, others jokingly defending the assailant. The general consensus, however, is that some people take their television a little too seriously.
With Insecure having aired its series finale in December, Ellis is free to move on to newer projects whose fans show less of a flair for violence. He’ll appear next in the highly-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick as a pilot trainee. He’s also slated to star in Somebody I Used to Know, the sophomore directorial effort from Dave Franco. Hopefully Ellis’ upcoming roles will lead to only pleasant encounters at airports.
Source: Jay Ellis