'A mood thing. Sunshine will help,' Stephen Fry tweets from LA after threat to give up on Twitter sparks online outcry
Stephen Fry today resumed tweeting after threatening to quit Twitter when a fan accused him of being boring.
The TV presenter, actor and writer, who has amassed more than 900,000 followers, admitted after arriving in Los Angeles to feeling embarrassed about having raised the idea that he might stop.
"Arrived in LA feeling very foolish. Wasn't the fault of the fellow who called me 'boring', BTW. A mood thing. Sunshine will help. So sorry," he wrote.
The mini-saga kicked off when one of Fry's fans had the temerity to criticise Fry's utterances on Twitter as boring. "I admire and adore" Fry, the fan said, but his tweets "a bit... boring... (sorry Stephen)".
The tweeter, who said he had been blocked from viewing Fry's Twitter feed, later apologised and acknowledged that Fry had bipolar disorder. The actor has talked openly in the past about his struggles with the condition, also known as manic depression, and made a BBC documentary about it three years ago.
With his ego bruised, Fry commented: "Think I may have to give up on Twitter. Too much aggression and unkindness around." In a direct message to the user who had criticised him, he added: "You've convinced me. I'm obviously not good enough. I retire from Twitter henceforward. Bye everyone."
His critic pleaded for "this whole sorry saga to go the way of the dodo", while other Fry fans beseeched him not pull the plug on his tweets, prompting Fry into a change of heart. "Thank you for being so understanding. I feel more sheepish than a sheep and more twattish than a twat."
One user, Rachel Watters, from Belfast, wrote: "Stephen Fry is a national treasure â€" if that makes him boring, then surely we're all mindnumbingly, skull-crunchingly dull."
Edduk8 sent a message saying: "Don't you dare quit. You're amazing, insightful and have a profound kindness. Ignore the unwashed masses and express yourself."
Southernmum said: "would be proud to be as boring as Stephen fry.. in fact its my new aim!."
Another user, Skinbro, said: "Glad this Stephen Fry business is over. Still, important lesson learned: abusing the right celebrity will get you 1000s of followers."
Fry delights his fans by commenting on a great diversity of subjects, as befits someone with an enormous range of interests. He was involved in the recent campaign to force the oil trader Trafigura to withdraw an injunction preventing the Guardian from reporting on a leaked document detailing the potentially lethal nature of waste dumped off Ivory Coast. He also criticised the Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir when she published a controversial column about the death of the Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
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