Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt calls out ‘randos being jerks’ about his age in since-deleted tweet

Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt has called out ‘randos being jerks’ about his age in the upcoming film in a since-deleted tweet.

Earlier this week, the trailer for the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen dropped, with Ben, 27, reprising his role as the titular character that he originally played on Broadway.

The story follows 17-year-old Evan who writes letters to himself to cope with his anxiety, as instructed by his therapist.

One of his letters is taken by his classmate Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), who later takes his own life, resulting in Connor’s parents believing that the letter in their son’s possession was a suicide note addressed to his best friend.

After watching the trailer, many fans expressed their excitement over Evan’s tale being shown on the big screen, with several not familiar with the stage production revealing that they were taken aback by the plot synopsis.

Some admitted that in their view, they thought Pitch Perfect star Ben appeared too old to play the role. However, in a tweet that has since been deleted, the actor hit back at this criticism, calling out ‘randos being jerks’.

In a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet obtained by Variety, he wrote: ‘thank u from the bottom of my [heart] for the outpouring of trailer love yesterday.

‘the film required me to revisit areas of personal pain, so seeing ppl excited & moved makes it so deeply worth it.

‘PS to the randos being jerks about age, read this great article and/or watch grease.’

While the tweet is no longer available on the social media platform, several fans came to Ben’s defence in the debate over his age.

‘Everyone mad that Ben Platt looks too old for #DearEvanHansen would be truly p***ed if they found out about casting high schoolers in anything before 2005. Tom Welling plays a 15 year old in Smallville season 1,’ one person said.

‘I’m guessing all these people moaning about Ben Platt being too old to play a high school kid in #DearEvanHansen didn’t grow up watching 90s / 00s TV shows! Dawson’s Creek, Buffy, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl. I never watched anyone under 20-25 play a high school kid!’ another remarked.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Ben addressed the fact that he is older than the character he’s playing in the film.

‘I think everybody obviously had in their minds that I wasn’t going to stay teen-adjacent forever,’ he said while discussing the making of the movie.

‘The need to get it done was a little urgent. Then of course the pandemic happened, and I kind of assumed that was that – it would be a no-go, and by the time the pandemic was over, I’d have outgrown it.’

Dear Evan Hansen is due to be released on September 24, 2021.

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