Marty Guilfoyle has opened up about toxic culture in the social media world, speaking out about his own experience with trolling.
The radio DJ was subjected to online abuse earlier this month, after people left cruel comments about his decision to join Ireland’s first TikTok house – pointing out the age gap between Marty and some of the younger members.
Speaking about the negative online experience, Marty told Claire Byrne on RTÉ’s Today show: “People are entitled to their opinion. I just think that it can get to a certain level that’s it’s beyond an opinion and it can actually hurt.”
“The abuse that will come my way is like ‘state of his hair’, ‘state of the shirt he’s wearing’, ‘I can’t stand listening to him on the radio’…If you’re going to put yourself out there, I think you need to be open to opinions.
“I’ve been pretty good with it that it hasn’t really crossed the line from my point of view. But my worry has always been – what if the person on the receiving end of it wasn’t strong enough to take what was coming there way?
“I’m able to deal with this, but what if the person who’s reading these things about them wasn’t able to? That’s where I think it is unfair.”
Speaking about the comments he received online last week, Marty said: “I was kind of watching it all come in online one of the days and I was kind of thinking – ‘Woah if people start believing this, this could tarnish my music career, my broadcasting career…’
“Even though obviously all of it was completely untrue, people were believing it,” he added.
“People were reading a tweet out of context rather than doing their own research and then they were all like ‘oh my god yeah, that’s crazy’.”
"It can get to a certain level where it's beyond an opinion and it can actually hurt."
DJ and broadcaster @MartyGuilfoyle speaks to @TodaywithClaire about how toxic social media can be.
You can listen back in full here 📲 https://t.co/zLAFfDlw4z#TodayCB pic.twitter.com/lR470WuACr— RTÉ Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) September 14, 2020
Ahead of his return to Spin1038 last week, Marty took to his Instagram Stories to promote kindness after a tough number of days.
“I do need to say a massive thank you because I’m in a very fortunate position where it is impossible for me to get back to everyone,” he said.
“If you DMed me something kind on Instagram, if you tweeted me something kind, if you DMd me on Twitter something kind…you have no idea how much it meant to me.
“I saw it all – I really really did, and I’m sorry that I can’t back to everyone. But it really made the last two days so much easier.”
“Last thing I’ll say… Not many people can say 2020 ‘Whoo yeah – what a year, I’m having a great time!’ So, some of us just are not strong enough to go on the internet and see something horrible wrote about us.
“So can we just not do that? And can we all just get through this year and at least we can say we all did it aye? So yeah, I’ll say no more on it.”
The backlash came after Marty joined nine other TikTok stars in a “content creator” house earlier this month – which included Shauna Davitt, Andrea Camila, Lewis Kelly, Thomas Arnold, Jake Brown, Ryan Mar, Lauren Whelan, Leila Ecker, and Nia Gallagher.
Responding to the backlash in a statement posted on social media, Marty confirmed he had since left The G.O.A.T House, as he addressed the nasty comments he had received online.
Marty wrote: “Around two weeks ago, I was invited by someone my own age to join a collaborative TikTok project inspired by ones like it in the UK and America.
“Whether you’re familiar with with TikTok or not, it’s responsible for the biggest shift in music distribution in the last decade, and it can make or break a career. You might only know me as a radio presenter, but my passion is my own music.
“The project sounded like a bit of fun, but if it went well it could have a huge impact in my work. There’s still lots of room for innovation around TikTok, so even if it came to nothing at least I’d get to meet some like-minded people in that space,” he continued.
Please read ❤️
I promise it's nothing to do with being a vegetarian. pic.twitter.com/7bTSD6ZOdD— Martin Guilfoyle (@MartyGuilfoyle) September 4, 2020
“When I signed on I had no idea who was going to be in the house with me, and I took a leap of faith. Fast forward three days and suddenly I’m the number one trending topic in the country, which absolutely wild to me – it’s a content collaboration project, and it’s not like there’s nothing else going on in the world.”
“Maybe you think it’s stupid. Fine. Maybe you think I’m stupid. Fine. I can take a slagging as well as the next guy. But what’s really upset me are suggestions that signing on for a work project with a group of adults was somehow weird or even predatory,” Marty wrote.
“Like I said, I can take a slagging, but not everyone can, and especially not to this extent. At this stage, my concern is that it might start to affect other people involved, so I have left the house and no longer have any connection to the project.”
“I wish everyone there the best of luck, I hope they have an amazing time, and I can’t wait to see what comes out of the collaboration,” he added.
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The celebrity MUA opens up about the ups and downs of living through the pandemic, and how her makeup range saved her.
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