TRENDING

Black woman tweeting from @Ireland subjected to ‘8hrs of non-stop hate’

23 Aug 2016

@Ireland account Michelle Marie

Michelle Marie. Image via Twitter

Just one day after taking the mantle of the @Ireland Twitter account, black woman and model Michelle Marie has revealed that she has been subjected to a torrent of ‘prejudice and hate’ from other users.

The @Ireland Twitter account has become very popular with Irish users as a way for Irish people and those within Ireland to talk about themselves and, in many cases, give their thoughts on Ireland today.

Run by Irish Central, the curator of the tweets changes each week, and in this week’s case, it was being run by an English-born black woman, Michelle Marie, who currently lives in Lough Mask, Co Mayo.

Originally from Oxford, Marie moved to Ireland in 2013 and now works as a plus-size model and blogger and calls the country her home.

However, within hours of taking up the mantle of the @Ireland account, she began receiving a torrent of racist abuse from users, to the point where some users were telling her to go back to her “ancestral lands”.

Eventually, the “prejudice and hate” aimed towards her became too much and she said that she would “need a break” for a few hours.

A few hours later, she issued a response to @Ireland followers where she described the hateful response she received as unprecedented.

“Today I have experienced racism, sexism, fatphobia and homophobia to a degree I have never known,” she said.

“I had eight hours of non-stop hate thrown at me. I am hurt, shocked and appalled.”

Despite receiving a number of tweets from users supporting her and criticising those accounts aiming hatred towards her, perhaps the most noteworthy was former @Ireland curator and Briton, James Hendicott.

Despite the online abuse, Marie still took the time to do what any Irish person would do in such a situation: quote Father Ted.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com