Milana Vayntrub has spoken out before about the online harassment she has faced for her portrayal of “Lily Adams,” a store manager in AT&T ads.
But in a New York Times story today, she revealed she received encouragement and support from an unlikely peer – Stephanie Courtney, who plays the character “Flo” in ads for Progressive Insurance.
Courtney contacted Vayntrub by phone when the online abuse was at its worse. Courtney was empathetic, and Vayntrub recalled that Courtney was a good listener. Talking to her peer made Vayntrub feel “like there were people on my team,” she said in the Times story.
In August of 2020, Vayntrub posted an Instagram livestream asking that the online harassment against her stop.
Vayntrub emotionally discussed how old photos of her have been manipulated into memes that generate lewd and vile responses.
“Maybe it just has to do with being a person on the internet, or maybe it’s specific to being a woman on the internet,” Vayntrub said in her livestream. “But all of these comments… it hurts my feelings. I’m hurting and it’s bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault. I am just like, you know, walking my dog and getting messages from people who have distorted my pictures to get likes on their accounts.”
Vayntrub, who was the AT&T spokesman from 2013 to 2016, returned in 2020 with a new set of commercials touting working from home and video chatting with iPhones and 5G.
AT&T issued a statement backing Vayntrub in 2020.
“We will not tolerate the inappropriate comments and harassment of Milana Vayntrub, the talented actor that portrays Lily in our ads. We have disabled or deleted these comments on our social content that includes Lily and we will continue to fight to support her and our values, which appreciate and respect all women.”