‘Unplanned’ Success Despite Twitter Sabotage

The “Unplanned” movie exposing Planned Parenthood has fought off numerous attacks, including a refusal by networks to sell advertising space, an “R” rating for depicting abortion and refusal of permission to use certain music.

The latest giant it faced down was having its Twitter account suspended on opening weekend. Twitter users started noticing that when they “followed” the account, it would keep showing up as “not following”.

“I think it’s outrageous! I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” Ashley Bratcher, the “Unplanned” actress who plays Abby Johnson in the film, told “Fox & Friends” Monday morning. “I think it’s incredibly suspicious given that we were suspended, then reinstated, then we lost followers, then we have people saying they can’t follow, then my own account was unfollowed from the movie. I couldn’t even follow my own movie.”

According to Twitter, Unplanned was not suspended on purpose but rather was linked to another account that had violated Twitter’s rules. When one account violates those rules, the system then cracks down on linked accounts to mitigate the risk that the original banned account would simply move accounts. After reviewing this case a second time, Twitter decided the Unplanned account should not be affected by the other’s suspension and restored it.

Co-director and co-writer Chuck Konzelman had this to say about the account suspension:

“It’s a sad state of affairs when the right to free speech gets shut down with the flick of a switch. The Twitter account for our film, Unplanned, was suspended this morning — without explanation. Whether this was an executive decision by Twitter, or a reaction by Twitter to complaints from those opposed to the pro-life viewpoint, either reason is unacceptable. Fortunately, the uproar in our defense was loud and fast in coming: Our account has since been reinstated. Thanks to all who have rallied to our defense.”

Despite all this, and other challenges, it took in more than $6 million over the weekend in 1,059 theaters, doubling expectations. It will appear in about 1,700 this coming weekend.

The movie depicts the true story of Abby Johnson who becomes the youngest clinic director in the history of Planned Parenthood, then a life-changing experience turns her into an anti-abortion activist. You can watch the trailer here.