GBBO star quits Twitter after receiving cruel death threats

Celebrity

Apr 14, 2015

Great British Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins has admitted she is giving Twitter a break after she became the subject of a cruel online bullying campaign.

Sue is currently in India on a filming trip and said she was shocked to discover the awful messages being tweeted from the UK, stemming from rumours she was set to replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear.

Jeremy was recently fired from the show after getting into a verbal altercation with a producer in public. In the last week or so, Sue had become the bookies' favourite to replace him, although neither Sue or the BBC had confirmed it.

In fact, Sue denied the rumours completely when a fan asked her if she was indeed in the running to replace Jeremy:

@RichardAddy well…. A. It is obviously IS against me and B. I am not So rest assured!

— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) April 9, 2015

Earlier today the presenter took to social media to express her hurt and anger at the reaction to the idea of a woman presenting Top Gear, and said she had received hundreds of cruel comments including death threats.

"Guys, post the utterly fabricated story about me & Top Gear, my timeline has been full of blokes wishing me dead…" she wrote.

"This morning, someone suggested they'd like to see me burn to death."

Guys, post the utterly fabricated story about me & Top Gear, my timeline has been full of blokes wishing me dead…

— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) April 14, 2015

This morning, someone suggested they'd like to see me burn to death.

— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) April 14, 2015

Sue then announced that she was quitting Twitter for the foreseeable future, writing, "All of which goes to say that I am off Twitter for a bit. Love and peace x"