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Friday, August 17, 2012

Twitter abuse ...... Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson - "Top Gear" host


'A nation of bastards': Jeremy Clarkson hits out after Twitter abuse over dead dog
Published: August 17, 2012 - 8:05AM

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has called Britain "a nation of 62 million complete and utter bastards" after claiming people abused and made jokes when he announced on Twitter that his dog had died, UK media report.

Jeremy Clarkson@jcrclarksonesqMy dog has just died17 Jul 12

"A few moments ago , my dog died, and, as an experiment, I announced the fact on Twitter," he wrote in the latest edition of Top Gear magazine, London's Daily Telegraph reported. 

"Now, everyone must have known that when a family pet is put down, the family in question is bound to be upset. So you'd expect a bit of sympathy. And, in America, that's what you'd get. Not in Britain, though. Moments after I posted my Tweet, a man called Ryan Paisey asked: 'How does she smell?' Adam Farrow said the news was 'kinda funny'. Phil May wanted to know if it was James May's fault, and Tom Green said simply: 'Good'. All that in less than what Twitter calls zero seconds.

"Five minutes has now elapsed, and still it's a non-stop tirade of abuse. Which confirms my theory."

Clarkson, 52, who is known for his outspoken comments, including suggesting that public sector workers on strike should be shot in front of their families, said the comments about his beloved black Labrador Whoopi showed to him that "Britain is a nation of 62 million complete and utter bastards".

"We are the country that invented the concentration camp, and international slavery. Hanging, drawing, quartering: that was us too. And who was it that sent the White Russians home to be slaughtered by Stalin? Yup. Us," he wrote.

Abusive tweets have been in the spotlight recently after a 17-year-old boy was arrested for comments he directed at British diver Tom Daley following his performance in the men's synchronised 10m platform final at the Olympics.

The boy, who is on bail to return to court in November, sent 18-year-old Daley the message "you let your dad down i hope you know that", which the diver retweeted to his 1.5 million followers with the note: "After giving it my all...you get idiot's sending me this." Daley's father died of cancer last year.

Tom Daley@TomDaley1994After giving it my all...you get idiot's sending me this...RT@rileyy_69@tomdaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that31 Jul 12

The boy also sent other tweets to the teen diver, but Dorset Police did not say which of the tweet or tweets prompted them to arrest him "on suspicion of malicious communications".

In March, Swansea University student Liam Stacey, 21, was jailed for 56 days after posting racist tweets directed at Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba, who had suffered an on-pitch cardiac arrest at that time. Another football fan was given a four-month suspended jail sentence and a third fan a two-year community orderfor their tweets.

In early August, Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton said she was quitting Twitter as a result of the amount of abuse she had been receiving.

"Turns out I don't have very thick skin after all so I am closing my twitter account. Enjoy the games. Signing off, skelts x," she wrote.

smh.com.au

1 comment:

Elephant's Child said...

I am a bit torn here. I don't approve of abusing anyone, by any means. That said, Jeremy is it seems much better at dishing abuse out than he is at taking it. And of course the family grieves for the loss of a pet (family member), but I don't think that Jezza often stops to think about other people's feelings.