Premier Kathleen Wynne bombarded on social media by homophobic, sexist abuse
The replies to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Twitter are not for the faint of heart.
The tweets at Wynne predominantly express anger about her record and most stay within the bounds of fair comment, not crossing the line into personal abuse. Such calls as "Resign!" "You're incompetent!" and "Worst premier ever!" are now simply part of the deal for a politician in the era of social media.
But Wynne also draws a significant number of abusive, sexist and homophobic tweets. A small sampling from just the past few days:
The comments on Wynne's Facebook page are equally nasty, but her communications team filters out posts that contain the most abusive words so the public can't view them.
A member of the premier's staff showed CBC News nearly 40 Facebook posts filtered out from just the past week, including ones calling Wynne a "wrinkly bitch" (by a Facebook user named George Onock) a "subhuman, dirty dyke" (Frank Yurkowski) and a "lying cheating c--t."
CBC News asked Wynne in a news conference on Tuesday about the online abuse.
"This isn't restricted to me or my colleagues, it's happening across the country," Wynne told reporters in Kitchener. "I don't read them all because it's just too toxic, but I read enough of them to know it's not who we are as Ontarians."
Wynne insisted she is "always an advocate for energetic political debate" and has a "very thick hide," but added, "I don't think it's helpful when factual conversation is overshadowed by personality and personal attack."
Premier Kathleen Wynne bombarded on social media by homophobic, sexist abuse - Toronto - CBC News
The replies to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne on Twitter are not for the faint of heart.
The tweets at Wynne predominantly express anger about her record and most stay within the bounds of fair comment, not crossing the line into personal abuse. Such calls as "Resign!" "You're incompetent!" and "Worst premier ever!" are now simply part of the deal for a politician in the era of social media.
But Wynne also draws a significant number of abusive, sexist and homophobic tweets. A small sampling from just the past few days:
The comments on Wynne's Facebook page are equally nasty, but her communications team filters out posts that contain the most abusive words so the public can't view them.
A member of the premier's staff showed CBC News nearly 40 Facebook posts filtered out from just the past week, including ones calling Wynne a "wrinkly bitch" (by a Facebook user named George Onock) a "subhuman, dirty dyke" (Frank Yurkowski) and a "lying cheating c--t."
CBC News asked Wynne in a news conference on Tuesday about the online abuse.
"This isn't restricted to me or my colleagues, it's happening across the country," Wynne told reporters in Kitchener. "I don't read them all because it's just too toxic, but I read enough of them to know it's not who we are as Ontarians."
Wynne insisted she is "always an advocate for energetic political debate" and has a "very thick hide," but added, "I don't think it's helpful when factual conversation is overshadowed by personality and personal attack."
Premier Kathleen Wynne bombarded on social media by homophobic, sexist abuse - Toronto - CBC News
