Willie Mason caught in abusive tweet storm
December 13, 2011 - 11:59AM
It doesn't quite rival "the dog ate my homework", but some people in the Twitterverse are a bit sceptical about Willie Mason's reasoning for a barrage of abusive tweets from his account over the weekend.
News emerged on Sunday that the former rugby league star, who has been playing rugby union for Toulon in France, was looking for a return to the NRL.
But a number of league fans let the former Bulldogs and Roosters forward know via Twitter that they did not like the idea.
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Many of the outbursts were abusive and scathing, but so too were some of the replies from Mason's account.
But Mason said today that he lost his phone over the weekend, his Twitter account was hacked into and someone else had sent the abusive tweets. Mason said he got the phone back only late last night.
"Seriously think my phone has been hacked cos I lost it on the weekend now I'm getting all these abusive tweets I think I might brush twitter," he tweeted.
"Just got my phone back OMG there is some crazy shit on there sorry to anyone that got offended how can I stop it from gettin hacked?
"I no I write some crazy shit but I'm not that ruthless I don't let haters get to me that bad."
While sporting personalities and other people in the public spotlight are usually protected by defamation laws, in the world of Twitter apparently anything goes, and, regardless of your opinion of Mason the footballer or person, some of the abuse he was receiving was way over the top.
While most celebrities or public figures in that situation choose to ignore the abuse, which then tends to cease, whoever had Mason's phone and was accessing his account could not help themselves, and responded numerous times, sometimes with expletives, other times with disgust.
"Hey mate u must live an exiting life? every Monday morning u tell your mates that u just bagged Willie Mason on twitter," was one response to an aggressive "bagger".
Mason sent a message to the same person earlier this morning: "hey I didn't write anything to u. but over read what u wrote and that's straight up wrong u r a f------ get a life."
Mason shouldn't take it to heart though, as the same person has targeted several NRL players, and also others from different codes, lashing them with abusive tweets. Most don't seem to reply though.
Whoever used Mason's phone and Twitter also offended others with a disparaging tweet about gay people.
Mason, a former Australian international, addressed that this morning as well, apologising to one person.
"if I offended u ... come on man I'm not homophobic some of my mates r gay.. so don't take it personal mate," he tweeted.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...tweet-storm-20111213-1os6x.html#ixzz1gRqC7rmj
