Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has quit Twitter 'with tears and a very sad heart' after weeks of vile racist abuse and she has fired a parting shot at social media.

Jones, a stand-up comedian who is currently starring as New York subway worker Patty Tolan in the remake of the classic movie, called for Twitter to crack down on hate speech and introduce stronger guidelines.

At one point someone posted a tweet under a fake account making it look as if Jones had hurled homophobic abuse at right-wing journalist Milo Yiannopoulis, who had written a bad review of the film.

Leslie Jones (second left) has hit the big time with her part in the remake of the movie Ghostbusters but she says she has received vile abuse and hundreds of 'evil' comments on Twitter

Leslie Jones posted this tweet last night after receiving a series of vile messages in the weeks since the new Ghostbusters film came out

Star Wars actor John Boyega responded to her final tweet with a message of support

Jones described some of the abuse she had received in the week after the Ghostbusters premiere.

She said she had been called an 'ape' and other racist abuse and 'even got a pic with semen on my face'.

Jones, 48, said she received 'evil' comments every few minutes and blocked numerous trolls.

She tweeted: 'I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this. So hurt right now.'

The actress also wrote: 'I use(d) to wonder why some celebs don't have Twitter accts now I know. You can't be nice and communicate with fans cause people crazy.'

Jones tweeted: 'Twitter I understand you got free speech I get it. But there has to be some guidelines when you let spread like that. You can see on the...Profiles that some of these people are crazy sick. It's not enough to freeze Acct. They should be reported.'

This is just one of the many vile racist tweets which Leslie Jones received. She has now quit Twitter and called on the social media company to impose stronger guidelines. The person who posted this tweet has not yet had their account suspended

Eventually she signed off late last night: 'I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart.All this cause I did a movie.You can hate the movie but the s*** I got today...wrong.'

But Yiannopoulis - who was briefly suspended from Twitter last month - tweeted: 'If at first you don't succeed (because your work is terrible), play the victim.

'It's not racist to point out that a movie f***ing sucks.'

Yiannopoulis was asked by Breitbart why he had been blocked by Jones and replied: 'She must have read my review. Honestly, this is why I say feminism is cancer.

'She used to be funny but being involved in a social justice dumpster fire like Ghostbusters has reduced her to the status of just another frothing loon on Twitter.'

British journalist Milo Yiannoupoulos (pictured), who works for Breitbart, claimed Jones was just 'playing the victim' and added: 'It's not racist to point out that a movie f***ing sucks'

Leslie Jones reacted angrily, with the occasional expletive, after receiving abuse on Twitter

Who you gonna call?: Leslie stars in the all-female Ghostbusters reboot alongside (L-R) Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon but the film has got mixed reviews

The hashtag LoveForLeslieJ began trending on Twitter after Jones highlighted the abuse she was suffering online.

Ghostbusters director Paul Feig tweeted: 'Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ.'

A Twitter spokesman said: 'This type of abusive behaviour is not permitted on Twitter, and we've taken action on many of the accounts reported to us by both Leslie and others.

'We rely on people to report this type of behaviour to us but we are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to prevent this kind of abuse.

'We realise we still have a lot of work in front of us before Twitter is where it should be on how we handle these issues.'