Bobby Norris opens up about death threats

2 November 2024

Bobby Norris faced online abuse and death threats due to his sexuality.

Bobby Norris opens up about death threats

The 38-year-old 'TOWIE' star revealed he was targeted with vile homophobic messages during his time on the reality TV show.

Speaking to his FUBAR Radio co-star Ellen Coughlan on 'Politics Uncensored', Bobby said: "I love social media, but I've been through it, and this is something actually, I'm not sure if a lot of people will know, but I think back in I think 2019, I was on a big reality show at the time, and was receiving a huge amount of abuse on social media, predominantly because of my sexuality.

"There was this one, I think another death threat come through. And when I say that it sounds so flippant, but it was literally just another one was outside my house and was going to petrol bomb me.

"It was a tough time. I've got a thick skin. So I was never losing sleep over it. And I was very aware. I thought, I can deal with this.

"But I know 13 or 14 year old Bobby couldn't have dealt with it. They were not just saying, Bob, I don't like your hair. I don't like your blow dry today, or I don't like that Louis Vuitton bag. No, we're talking really dark stuff."

Due to the abuse, Bobby Bobby campaigned for a change in legislation to make online homophobia a specific offence, and said: "I created a petition sat in my bedroom. And so I think this was 2019, so I campaigned for, I think about four or five years.

"Well, yeah, it's been in law for one year now, yeah, to put an aim to or to have some kind of legislation around how people can speak online.

"I went to Downing Street. I've been to Parliament several times for debates, and thankfully, after four or five years of campaigning, it's become a law, and it is the Online Safety Act.

"It isn't about the snowflake generation saying that they don't like something about you. It's not opinion based. We're talking threats violence, threats violence, discrimination, dark stuff."