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Internet Troll Who Abused Mary Beard Apologises After Threat

PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:15 pm
by admin
Internet troll who abused Mary Beard apologises after threat to tell his mother
by Sam Marsden
29 Jul 2013

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Oliver Rawlings, an internet troll who sent an abusive message to the classicist Mary Beard, was today shamed into apologising after another user threatened to tell his mother what he had done.

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Oliver Rawlings, 20, used his Twitter account to call the Cambridge University professor of classics a “filthy old slut” and make a highly offensive sexual comment about her.

However, he then found himself on the receiving end of vitriol from scores of appalled supporters of Prof Beard after she retweeted the remark to all her followers, saying she would not be “terrorised” by online abuse.

One Twitter user wrote to the academic: “Mary, if you would like to send a copy [of] @Rawlings153's tweet to his mother, Joanne, I'd be happy to give you the postal address.”

Within minutes Mr Rawlings had said sorry to the academic and deleted his original comment, saying: “I sincerely apologise for my trolling. I was wrong and very rude. Hope this can be forgotten and forgiven.”

He added: "I feel this had been a good lesson for me. Thanks 4 showing me the error of my ways."

Oliver Rawlings, an internet troll who sent an abusive message to the classicist Mary Beard, was today shamed into apologising after another user threatened to tell his mother what he had done.

Mr Rawlings, a student at Nottingham University who went to £10,344-a-year Cheadle Hulme School, sent the offensive message in response to an appearance by Prof Beard on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 programme today.

Describing the internet abuse she had received in the past, the classicist told the show: “What I have taken to doing now when I get this stuff is I retweet it, and sometimes you get an apology. That is actually quite gratifying, that you can make people feel ashamed about what they say.”

Faced with a torrent of criticism, Mr Rawlings, from Hale, Greater Manchester, who describes himself as an “entrepreneur”, later locked his Twitter account so only approved followers could read his messages.

Prof Beard said afterwards: "It is a tough call. I have increasingly opted for name and shame. It has to be outed. And maybe his friends can say 'stop'."

The classicist spoke earlier this year of how she decided to expose online trolls after drawing abuse for an appearance on the BBC's Question Time.

She said: "Women are too often told just to shut up and don't make a fuss and it'll go away. But not this time.”