Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones has announced she will be leaving Twitter with "tears and a very sad heart" after being targeted by "sick" trolls.

The actress and comedian struggled to defend herself against the racist abuse she received – including comparisons to Harambe the gorilla – after a fake account in her name began posting equally hateful messages.

An account bearing the same Twitter handle as Leslie and using her profile picture – although noticeably WITHOUT the verified blue tick – caused some confusion when it began posting and retweeting on the actress' behalf.

"uncleTom fag @nero needs to get his racist ss out my mentions. S*** liek dis make me think that we need to gas dese goddamn f***** to death," read one tweet from the fake account.

(Image: Twitter)

(Image: Twitter) (Image: Getty Images)

Leslie was quick to notice the apparent hack and screenshotted the post, with a caption: "THIS WAS NOT ME!! OK TWITTER IM DONE!! IF YALL CAN LET THIS S*** HAPPEN I DONT WANT TO BE HERE. I DID NOT POST THIS."

The actress – who appears in the new Ghostbusters reboot – appealed to fans to help shut down the fake account.

"Please help me find this fake Acct posting the most awful s*** in my name. Help!," wrote Leslie.

(Image: Twitter) (Image: Twitter)

Following the posts – which some fans realised were lacking the "celebrity credibility" – the 48-year-old wrote: "I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It should be like this. So hurt right now."

Another tweet read: "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"

Mirror Celebs has contacted Leslie's reps for comment.

It comes after the star - who joins Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon in the reboot of the 1980s classic blockbuster - was attacked by bullies on Twitter yesterday, with some even comparing her to Harambe the gorilla.

She told one user they must "hate" themselves after they wrote: "Don't let #Ghostbusters bombing get you down. You're a shoo-in to star in the Harambe motion picture as the man himself. (sic)"

(Image: Twitter)

Leslie was understandable fuming, and fired back: "You think calling me a gorilla is funny you're sick. And very very sad. You must hate yourself to put out that kind of hate"

The tweet referred to the tragic death of Harambe the gorilla, who was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, US, after a three-year-old boy entered his enclosure

In response to the vile tweets - many of which are too offensive to mention here - the actress began screenshotting them to name and shame the bullies.

She hinted that the comments have made her question her faith in humanity, and summed up the abuse she has been receiving.

She tweeted: "Ok I have been called Apes, sent pics of their asses,even got a pic with semen on my face. I'm tryin to figure out what human means. I'm out (sic)"

However, many fans did speak out to defend the star from the haters.

One replied: "Reading @Lesdoggg's timeline disgusted by people's ingorance. It's sad how immoral + cruel people become behind an avatar + a fake name (sic)"

Leslie has also appealed to Twitter to take more urgent action against online trolls, writing: "I'm not stupid to not know racism exists.

(Image: CTMG)

"And I know it will probably live on way after me. But we have to make people take responsibility.

"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."

It comes as the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ began trending in support of the star.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

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."