Meet Michelle Marie, Ireland Twitter Account Controller, Who Was Trolled With Racist Comments

Black British blogger Michelle Marie faced a slew of hateful and racist comments within hours of taking over Ireland’s official Twitter account on Monday.

Upon taking control, Marie received “eight hours of non-stop hate” from some of the @Ireland 40,000 followers, including one user who told her to “return to your ancestral lands,” Telegraph reported.

The Oxford native, who is of Guyanese, Jamaican and white British decent, was adopted by white parents as a baby, Irish Post reported. However, her multicultural upbringing had no effect on racist tweeters who posted messages like, “Blacks out, Ireland for the Irish,” and referred to her as a “negress” among several other offensive slurs.

Not long after the trolling started, Marie, who is also a plus sized model, commented on the negative reactions she was constantly receiving via Twitter.

“A few people are finding issue with be being black and running the Ireland account, so let me just address that for a minute…” she wrote. “I am not an Irish citizen or of Irish decent. Correct. But I do live in Ireland and this account is to represent all residents here.”

Marie relocated to Lough Mask in Mayo three years ago and refers to her adopted country as her home. She also revealed that she has a daughter who is an Irish citizen.

Marie admitted she “expected trolls and backlash” when she first decided to curate the account. However, she said she “experienced racism, sexism, fat phobia, and homophobia to a degree I have never known” when it was discovered she was behind the country’s official Twitter on Monday morning.

Despite all the negative responses, Marie has received an outpouring of support from other Twitter users, including one who said he was “really disappointed that Twitter doesn’t clamp down on this [type of trolling].”