A Twitter user targeted a sundry of LGBT+ people after an episode of Gavin & Stacey aired on Christmas Day. She was later fired. (Twitter)
A homophobe who slipped into LGBT+ people’s Twitter inboxes and called them “dirty f**s”on Christmas Day has reportedly been fired from her job.
After British comedy Gavin & Stacey aired on Christmas Day, an array of angered queer viewers took to Twitter to disquiet showrunners for failing to remove the word ‘f****t’ from a karaoke version of ‘Fairytale of New York’.
But some users reported a user targeting them shortly after this, fanning the flames of hate by calling detractors “f*****s”, multiple testimonies and screenshots showed.
What did she direct message LGBT+ people exactly?
On December 25, just after the comedy special aired, a sundry of users reported being targeted by the same user shortly after tweeting their take on Gavin & Stacey.
Moments after “faggot” was screamed on Gavin and Stacey, on Christmas Day I received this message from a stranger calling me a “disgusting fag”. Don’t tell me that sticking that language in comedy is OK. It emboldens bigots like @tiacaraxo. pic.twitter.com/iEdm0crN88
— Benjamin Butterworth (@benjaminbutter) December 25, 2019
you ok @tiacaraxo? you not got something better to do on christmas day than to send homophobic insults to strangers? you sad state https://t.co/SxFYlGZXro
— JOE (@JXEKER) December 25, 2019
Lovely DM from @tiacaraxo pic.twitter.com/TpS0QdipRZ
— Seán (@notboysean) December 25, 2019
Like clockwork pic.twitter.com/2yh52Uu98J
— W⚓ (@Wkhnage) December 25, 2019
She also appeared to like several tweets that supported not censoring The Pogues song on the show as well as tweets that attacked “snowflakes” for being being “offended by it this year all of a sudden”, screenshots showed.
Imagine. pic.twitter.com/FVOq6BagMl
— lynn joe 💵 (@DontLetBaeDrown) December 25, 2019
Her account has since been made private and her display and cover photos blacked out.
Twitter sleuths later identified her from her Instagram, where she follows a colourful array of drag queens, and that she worked at grooming parlour in Hertfordshire, England.
‘Dont f***k with f****ts’.
But the plot thickened when users reached out to her employer Men at Work to flag her track record of targeting queer people on Christmas Day.
Just got send this by @_madsgee. She lost her job at Christmas :(((
Don’t. Fuck. With. Faggots x pic.twitter.com/l0uNxK7ZVB
— Alex (@rubytrubes) December 27, 2019
“I have been informed of this and can only apologise for her actions,” a member of the Men at Work team responded over their Facebook page, according to a screenshot.
“She no longer works for me. I have forwarded to her mother.”
In short: Must get rid of toxic in community.
PinkNews contacted Men at Work for comment.
Why are people debating a lyric from a Christmas song?
The Pogues‘ 1987 song ‘Fairytale of New York’, regularly rated as the UK’s favourite festive song, is also regularly plunged into controversy for its inclusion of ‘f****t’ in one of its lyrics.
The line from the song typically goes: ‘You scumbag you maggot, you cheap lousy f*****, happy Christmas your arse I pray God it’s our last.’
It was belted out by the late singer Kirsty McColl who, at times, opted not to sing the homophobic term.
Becoming as synonymous with the holidays as twinkly lights, the annual debate over whether the lyric – given the term’s modern use as an anti-gay slur – was intensified after BBC One comedy Gavin & Stacey aired on December 25.
It became caught in a crossfire of criticism after two characters did a karaoke version of the song and sang the lyric, cutting it off shortly after the word was uttered.
Broadcasting the slur to more than 11.6 million viewers.