Entertainment
All Chrissy Teigen wanted to do was tell us funny stories and now we’ve bullied her off Twitter
Chrissy Teigen being chased off Twitter by people and their pitchforks, deleting her account overnight, is what is wrong with the world right now.
Last night the model/author/hilarious human being, I don’t care what you say, shared she was taking a step back from the platform that she has been a prolific user of over the years.
However, proving that, yes, she is a human being with actual feelings – people seem to forget this, don’t they? – the negativity lobbed at her became too much and she told fans it was ‘time to say goodbye’ while also urging others to remember their words matter.
Sure, I know there are actual issues to be taken seriously right now, but Chrissy’s place on Twitter was a glorious reprieve from the monotony of lockdown and said actual issues, no less a breather from the more horrid side of social media that aims to divide us at every turn.
But now? Well, you’ve gone and ruined it.
By ‘you’, I mean the trolls and desperately unhappy people who took some sort of delight in laying the boot into Chrissy – and so many other people, famous or not. Heck, the vitriol continues even with Chrissy gone, as ‘they’ celebrate her departure and encourage other celebrities to do the same.
It’s rage-inducing to watch. I’ll also eat my hat if people haven’t soon commented on this piece with nonsense along the lines of ‘good, hated her, the internet’s a better place without her’.
Clearly these people need to tweet at all costs before they spontaneously-combust from all the anger they’ve gathered over someone they’ve never met simply existing on their timeline.
Chrissy penned in her goodbye note: ‘This no longer serves me as positively as it serves me negatively, and I think that’s the right time to call something.
‘My life goal is to make people happy. The pain I feel when I don’t is too much for me. I’ve always been portrayed as the strong clap back girl but I’m just not.’
She wrote: ‘Please know all I ever cared about was you!!!’
Chrissy’s final tweet was ‘<3’ and she has now deactivated her account, which had 13.7 million followers. Her Instagram account, however, is still active, so all is not lost.
Her Twitter was where it was at, though. From getting into fights with Donald Trump – and eventually being blocked by the former president – to bringing us candid insights into her marriage with John Legend and their family, no less some ruddy great recipes, she’s been a beacon of brilliance.
Perhaps even more importantly, while she was being hammered by trolls she still made sure to stand up for those who didn’t have as big a platform. Most recently, she shared her disgust at a fan being called a ‘geriatric mother’ should she have kids aged 35, which started an important conversation and led to the star partnering with the motherhood app Peanut where said video first emerged.
She wasn’t just all boobs and X-rated jokes, she really seemed to care, but so many couldn’t see past their own pearl-clutching to realise the good she may be doing for other people.
Quite heartbreakingly, one of the things Chrissy said as she left the platform was that she hasn’t learned how to block out the negativity – but why should she have to?
It’s the classic victim-blaming trope we’ve seen really ramp up over the past few weeks.
Why is the onus on the person being attacked to grow a thicker skin, or come up with a better way to deflect hate so it doesn’t affect them quite so much? Endless trolling and abuse isn’t something we should simply ‘get over’.
I have but a smidge of the following Chrissy does (honestly, it’s in no way braggable) but even I still face these cretins. No one is immune. After one particularly divisive take on a subject when I first started in the digital realm (ah, how naive I was) I found members of the public really love letting you know just how much they hate you when they don’t have to say it to your face.
Then I discovered that in my settings I can screen my notifications to only show replies or tweets from those who follow me. It changed my life.
Turns out, most trolls don’t actually follow who they’re directing their ridiculous messages to, so I’m more than happy to live in ignorant bliss and never see what your standard basement dweller thinks of me or an article I wrote on any given day.
I no longer log onto Twitter and fear my notifications, but I can’t imagine how it could feel for those who perhaps can’t mute theirs in such a way, or have such a high following you’re met with a relentless onslaught of hate.
Chrissy said it all as she ended her message: ‘I encourage you to know and never forget that your words matter. No matter what you see, what that person portrays, or your intention. For years I have taken so many small, 2-follower count punches that at this point, I am honestly deeply bruised.’
Instead of these social media companies (which I do love using, don’t get me wrong – Twitter is brilliant, Facebook and Instagram serve their own purposes especially in a disconnected pandemic world; TikTok…ah, moving on) and governments taking proper action against trolls, like Katie Price has been imploring for years, to make people accountable for their often-anonymous words, it’s down to people who probably once got a lot of joy out of using these platforms to step back. And that sucks.
But, sadly, judging by the response to Chrissy’s leaving of Twitter, I don’t think anything is going to change anytime soon.
People are going to continue to share their unnecessary hate as long as they can get away with it, because we’ve become a world that thinks every thought we have is worthy of publication (Yes, I know, who am I to talk, right?).
So while you may clap for the carers and call your mum on a regular basis, don’t forget the effect your words can have online even when you think no one is watching. Because, in Chrissy’s case, they are, and I really don’t want all the humour to be sucked out of social media until all we’re left with is Trump’s alt account. No one wants that.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing angela.pearson@metro.co.uk.
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