Gay TOWIE star will ask MPs to end trolling as he tells parliament about his homophobic abuse and daily death threats
TOWIE cast member Bobby Norris (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
The Only Way is Essex star Bobby Norris is to appear before Parliament to discuss his experiences of homophobic abuse.
The out-and-proud reality star, who has appeared on TOWIE since 2012, has been vocal about his experience of online abuse – petitioning Parliament in 2019 to make online anti-LGBT+ abuse a criminal offence.
Norris will appear before Parliament’s Petitions Committee on Thursday (May 21), as part of a new inquiry into online abuse.
Like the majority of Parliamentary proceedings at the moment, the event will take place over videolink.
Bobby Norris will speak to MPs during Mental Health Awareness Week.
Catherine McKinnell MP, Chair of the Petitions Committee, said: “I’m pleased that Bobby is able to share his personal experiences of online abuse with the Committee during Mental Health Awareness Week.
“Highlighting these issues in Parliament is so vital for raising awareness, and can shine a light on the action that can be taken to help stamp out this all too common problem.
“Online abuse can affect anyone, and takes many forms. It is a subject that is very close to my heart, and something that the Petitions Committee investigated extensively in the last Parliament.
“But with online abuse as prevalent as ever, and Coronavirus meaning people are on social media more than ever, it is imperative we take steps to tackle online abuse and stamp it out.”
TOWIE cast member Bobby Norris (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
TOWIE star wants to end trolling once and for all.
In a video posted to social media, Norris said: “This Thursday, I’m going to speaking about my End The Trend To Troll campaign and my personal experience with online abuse.
“It’s time to finally put a stop to this. MPs want to hear more about it, and I’m so grateful that they’re sitting up and listening. I really feel like we’re one step closer to ending the trend to troll.
“A lot of you know I receive death threats and homophobic messages daily, and it isn’t just me. There’s tens of thousands of people suffering with this, day in and day out.
“It’s for every single one of them that I’m doing this, because we need to change the law here. Something needs to happen.”
Norris spoke out last month after trolls barraged him with homophobic abuse during an Instagram Live stream with Love Island‘s Amber Gill.
He said: “Every derogatory word you can think of for a gay man, I’ve been called. I have been annihilated for my sexuality and for the way I look.
“I can’t believe that with everything going on in the world, people still think,’ let’s go and troll some people today’. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic!”
