A DUBLIN father whose six-year-old daughter has been targeted by online trolls after appearing on the RTÉ Late Late Toy Show has described the abuse as “very, very scary”.
Mark Reddy told Late Late host and Radio 1 presenter Ryan Tubridy that his daughter Lara was still “on top of the world” after her appearance on Friday night’s show when she sang an alternative My Little Pony song.
“My Little Pony, skinny and bony, went to the stable, to die on the table,” Lara’s lyrics went.
After Lara’s appearance the family received numerous comments on social media praising the youngster who stole the show, however, others were critical.
Mr Reddy said that after having a “magical experience” at the Donnybrook station, the family arrived home to a “bombardment of wonderful, supportive comments”, adding: “But one or two of the Facebook pages had what could only be described as trolls who used the opportunity to be very racist... and very abusive over a three-minute sketch of a six-year-old having a great time”.
The father, who adopted Lara as an infant with his wife Jean, described the abuse as “heartbreaking”, saying: “I was appalled. We were very upset. We tried to stay with the positives. The whole idea of Lara going onto the show was that every step was a wonderful experience for us.”
Ryan Tubridy expressed his anger at the family’s experiencing, hitting out at the “very small group of people”, describing them as a “very angry, nasty, vile group of people”.
