A racist troll went after House of the Dragon actor Bethany Antonia and left a hateful DM on her Instagram, hoping for her death.
But instead of hurling a retaliatory strike at her toxic aggressor, the 26-year-old actor of English and Jamaican descent responded by seemingly coming out as gay.
Antonia plays Lady Baela Targaryen in the Max fantasy series House of the Dragon. The prequel series takes place nearly 200 years before the events in Game of Thrones.
Fans of the series were highly anticipating the June 16 premiere of the show's second season and shared their excitement on social media.
Here's a trailer for House of the Dragon's second season.
House of the Dragon | Official Black Trailer | Maxyoutu.be
But as the cast geared up for the premiere of the show's second season, Antonia wasn't expecting the racist DM and death threat to pop up among messages from fans.
She shared a screenshot of the note on her Instagram story, which read:
"[n-word], you look like a piece of sh*t."
"It's a miracle they even included you in the trailer. But we don't care."
"I hope you accidentally die on set."
Three vomiting emojis followed the message.
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
Antonia shared the message from the aggressor and wrote:
"Wait till they find out I'm gay too...."
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
She followed up her IG story with a joyful photo of her, and suggested that racists can never ruin the "dragon joy" shared by fellow members of the Black community.
She wrote:
"Y'all won't ruin this first glimmer of dragon joy for us negroes."
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
The subsequent outpouring of messages from supportive fans demonstrated that love always trumps hate.
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
@bethanyantonia/Instagram
House of the Dragon season 2 will stream on Max on June 16.
