Sportscaster Erin Andrews has become a global celebrity over the past few years. The easy-on-the-eyes hostess and sideline reporter shot up the ladder at ESPN and augmented her recognizability with appearances on non-sports shows such as Good Morning America and Dancing With the Stars before leaving this summer to join Fox Sports.
But the dark side that can come along with fame in the digital age became apparent again Monday morning when Andrews posted this message to her 1.5 million Twitter followers:
Why twitter needs policing RT @hyuncmartinez: @erinandrews You make eye contact with me and I will chop you apart. You are just a bad thing— Erin Andrews (@ErinAndrews) October 22, 2012
The tweet directed attention to the profile of Twitter user @hyuncmartinez, who, it turns out, had been harassing Andrews online since last Tuesday. The apparently female troll has sent a stream of hateful, bizarrely threatening tweets Andrews' way:
@erinandrews You annoy me one more time and I will let people know who you are and your genetic issue that you got from your parents.— Hyun K Chung (@hyuncmartinez) October 16, 2012
@erinandrews You are too stupid to mess with me. Why don't you practice to smile with your folded face if you have time. #terrorist— Hyun K Chung (@hyuncmartinez) October 16, 2012
@erinandrews I will kill you next time. And fold your face more.— Hyun K Chung (@hyuncmartinez) October 16, 2012
@erinandrews Now you did these. You will find out from your life what I am capable of. You psycho bitch.— Hyun K Chung (@hyuncmartinez) October 22, 2012
That's just a small sampling of some 20 messages @hyuncmartinez has sent Andrews directly, out of a total of 57 tweets dating back to early September. While the tweets appear to be simply unbalanced rambling by a strange hater, one does wonder whether Andrews has heightened security during Monday night's NLCS Game 7 baseball game in San Francisco.
Twitter trolls in the United Kingdom have been arrested for lesser offenses, but @hyuncmartinez doesn't sound worried about being publicly exposed via Andrew's policing suggestion.
Do you think Twitter needs to do more to protect celebrities and sports figures from brutal online harassment, or is that just the price of modern fame that entertainers have to deal with?