Marvel's Black Panther is well on its way to becoming one of the most successful superhero films of all time. Despite the overwhelming critical acclaim and fanfare, there has been a renewed attempt to steal the film's thunder, according to Teen Vogue.
Users, aka trolls, on 4chan boards alluded to sabotaging the film. They planned to use fake ads to a spread classist and racist rumor, suggesting EBT cards may be used to purchase Black Panther theater tickets. The initiative appears to be this: lure EBT cardholders to a theater, to buy tickets with the card, only find themselves turned away. The troll goal is to depress black turnout.
Trolls retooled promotional materials for the film in order to further convince people that the cards will be accepted. 4Chan users have also discussed plans to take over the hashtags #BlackPanther, #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe, #Wakanda, #Blackhistorymonth and others to add another layer of authenticity to their dastardly plan.
A number of commentators made clear that they subscribed to the racist assumption all black people are on the SNAP program. However, stats from the HuffPost prove the white people are the largest demographic to receive these benefits.
The 4Chan thread also contained some pushback from other users, who critique the finer elements of the scheme, arguing the deceptive materials weren't good enough to fool people.
Prior to the film's release, other plots to sabotage the film's IMDB and Rotten Tomato scores surfaced. Recently, trolls claimed black fans were attacking white people for attending Black Panther screenings.
A photo used in a post, suggesting a fake "Black Panther" attack, was of former White House staffer Rob Porter's ex-wife, who is a victim of domestic violence.
Fortunately, when it comes to this most recent plot, it seems that cooler heads have prevailed: the 4Chan thread has been archived and the idea has gained very little traction on Twitter.