U.K. Singer-Actress Urges Rupert Murdoch to Apologize for ‘Scumbag Celebrities’ Twitter Rant

LONDON — Welsh singer and actress Charlotte Church and British TV host Jacqui Hames ‏on Sunday took to Twitter to urge News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch to withdraw and apologize for a weekend tweet in which he had attacked them and other celebrities for meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron.

On Saturday, Murdoch slammed them after reports that they had met Cameron in recent days as part of their attempt to push for stricter privacy laws in the U.K. in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, in which his conglomerate has been embroiled.

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Reports about the meeting had also mentioned members of the Hacked Off campaign launched following the scandal and Hugh Grant who works with the campaign as attendees.

The media mogul tweeted: “Told UK’s Cameron receiving scumbag celebrities pushing for even more privacy laws,” Murdoch tweeted. “Trust the toffs! Transparency under attack. Bad.”

Church on Sunday evening tweeted: “@rupertmurdoch It would be decent to withdraw & apologise for  – calling me, @CharlotteChurch and@jacquihames*scumbags*.”

Church earlier this year settled phone hacking charges with News Corp. for $950,000.
 
Hames had earlier on Sunday tweeted a similar note to Murdoch. Hames also added: “I’ve been called worse, but admittedly not by CEO of large multinational corp.”

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Other Twitter users also asked Murdoch to apologize for the Twitter rant and remove it.

A former Liberal Democrat member of parliament, Evan Harris, similarly attacked Murdoch and said he had been at the meeting between Cameron and the celebrities.

“By “scumbag celebs” do u mean the [woman police constable] u put under surveillance, the teen girl yr papers perved over, or the actor u hacked?” he tweeted. “I was at meeting & unlike yr secret meetngs w/ PMs promoting yr business, the victims went in front door & told media abt it.” He also told the mogul to remove his tweet.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai

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