Piers Morgan isn’t exactly one to hold back on social media, regularly doling out insults via to the likes of Madonna, Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and various U.K. soccer players. But it seems the former CNN host is also high on the list of personalities on the receiving end of online verbal attacks.
According to a study for U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times, Morgan receives abuse in 8.7 percent of tweets sent to him, higher than any other U.K. celebrity. Ricky Gervais, another prolific Twitter user, receives abuse in 2.6 percent.
The study, conducted by the think tank Demos, examined two million tweets sent to prominent U.K. politicians, celebrities, journalists and musicians over a four-week period, with the aim of analyzing trolling. It found that men were twice as likely to receive abusive tweets than women, but were also responsible for about two-thirds of offensive material. Only female journalists received more than their male counterparts.
While Morgan may attract the most abuse, musicians such as Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran attracted the lowest level, at 0.41 percent.
One Direction member Niall Horan was excluded from the study. With 12.6 million messages received over the period, it was felt his statistics would have distorted the results.
Twitter: @alexritman
