James Patrice has recalled being left “distraught” due to online trolling.
Speaking exclusively to Goss.ie, the Malahide native revealed he’s “relatively lucky” as he doesn’t get that much direct trolling.
However, some negative comments directed towards the 34-year-old have hit him harder than others.
James told Goss.ie: “I think I’m relatively lucky. I don’t get too much direct trolling, I’m very lucky that way.”
“I find that anyone that kind of engages with me wants to engage with my content and is following me because they want to do it. So you’ll get the majority of nice comments, which is great.”
“And then I suppose if a video maybe goes a bit viral or does well, it’ll end up being shared and it’ll find its way into an audience that maybe don’t follow you and wouldn’t choose to follow you.”
“So that’s when the negativity comes in, like obviously homophobic comments and ‘the state of your man, who is he? Is this what we’re being subjected to?’”
James continued: “During the summer I put up a nice photo with my niece. I was dressed up as Malahide Woman, it was around the time of Pride and she had a nice little rainbow dress on, and I put it up and people were saying ‘oh, that’s disgusting, a groomer, predator, this is what the youth of today are being subjected to.’”
“Look, you just have to kind of know that that person is hopefully a minority, doesn’t know you, they’re a stranger, you don’t know them.”
“And then I know there’s obviously lots of forums as well, which I don’t read, but someone did send me… now why they thought they should I don’t know, maybe they thought they were helping me out.”
“But they sent me a screenshot of one of the forums and they were saying how I had lashed the weight on, I was disgraceful, how someone had seen me eating a Supermacs at Heuston station and how I shouldn’t be doing that.”
“And I remember going like ‘what?’ like how someone would take the time to write that I just find shocking, you know what I mean?,” James continued to tell Goss.ie.
“So it is there, but I’m fortunate that I’m not exposed to it too much. But I remember one time there was like this Instagram private message group where you can set up a group and add people to it.”
“And it was a group of young lads, I think they were I don’t know they were all anonymous profiles, but they added me to it, and they were saying ‘Oh Jesus, James, you’d want to lay off the food. One more burger and you’re going to die.’”
“I remember, actually, I read it before I went to The Gossies in 2020. I remember reading it and sitting there going ‘Oh my God’, I was distraught by this random Instagram group, and I remember my sister coming into my room, she was going with me to The Gossies, and I told her and she goes ‘James, don’t mind them, feck them, get the gear on there and we’ll go and have a ball.’ And we did in the end. But I suppose it’s all about how you react to it as well.
“And I always say, like I have a thick skin and I’m kind of used to it, but if someone who’s younger than me, like a teenager was looking at that, how bad would they feel? Because they wouldn’t be equipped to deal with it.”
“So that’s why I always try and say please, and not just to people you follow, but to your peers and to your friends, think before you write something, think before you say something, because it can be so damaging.”
