Molly-Mae Hague’s police officer dad, Stephen, has come under fire on social media after her defended "naive" comments made by his daughter and fellow influencer Elle Darby.
The 22-year-old former Love Island star made comments about poverty on The Diary Of A CEO podcast last month, which were slammed for being "tone deaf" while Elle was trolled viciously before making an apology for her remarks before taking a break from social media.
Stephen shared a lengthy post in which he pointed out that some people have been "driven to death" by comments made during relentless attacks online by vicious trolls.
Molly-Mae had ruffled feathers after she stated on a podcast that "we all have the same 24 hours in the day" as she took aim at those in poverty and their opportunities.
Meanwhile, Elle was at the centre of a hate storm after racist and fat-phobic former tweets came back to haunt her.
After Molly-Mae had stated that she was "terrified" of leading a "normal" life like her parents, her dad Stephen expressed his concerns at the level of abuse his daughter has to suffer every time she makes a comment.
He wrote: “It must be tough for the media stars, influencers and public figures. Especially the younger ones who are still learning the emotional rollercoaster of life.
“It hurts me to see people literally driven to death by cruel comments of people who don’t know the individuals and hide behind a keyboard often on fake accounts, cancelling someone for something 5,6,7 or 10 years ago, when a child is profoundly naïve and shows a real lack of emotional intelligence.”
Speaking specifically about his daughter, Stephen wrote: "Then attacking people for a sentence made as part of an interview taken out of context – I wouldn’t mind but the CEO of Netflix appeared on a podcast called ‘the same 24hrs’ on which many well respected business leaders have appeared – not attacked or cancelled.
“I think the context of Molly’s words fit better with the title of that podcast “we all have the same 24 hours in every day.
"But it’s how we USE those 24 hours that makes the difference in our health, happiness and success” – but what do I know.”
Among a slew of comments in reply to Stephen's post, one angry tweeter wrote: "Molly Mae’s dad really coming to defend Ellie Darby and classing her rife racism as naive is disgusting."
Since making her comments, Molly-Mae - who is thought to be worth £2 million since leaving Love Island - has issued a statement in which she has admitted that she knows people come from different backgrounds and that she was speaking on the podcast from her own experiences.
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