TV presenter Helen Skelton claimed to quit Twitter over hurtful messages sent by a troll. Her account, however, is still publicly viewable.
“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 tweeted Wednesday, according to The Telegraph.
That tweet appears to have been deleted and her account, @HelenSkeltonUk, remains active, though all tweets since Tuesday have been removed.
Skelton, 29, is primarily a host on BBC kids’ show Blue Peter, but she’s also helping out with the network’s Olympics coverage, for which she’s been interviewing members of the public. The messages Skelton received were apparently private direct messages concerning her work at the Games.
Colleagues like BBC Sport presenter Gary Lineker expressed dismay. “What is wrong with people?” he asked.
Skelton’s fiancé, rugby player Richie Myler, retweeted a message of support from @Tom_M_94: “I dunno if she’ll see my tweet but can you tell your fiancé that some people (especially me) are going to miss her on twitter?”
She’s far from the first person in the limelight to consider quitting Twitter over trolls. Arsenal soccer player Jack Wilshere was driven off Twitter by offensive users, while a writer for hit HBO show Game of Thrones quit the community over criticism.
In Skelton’s case, however, it’s not quite clear if she’s completely lowered the Blue Peter flag to wave a white one of surrender at the trolls.
Photo via Twitter