Kieron Richardson quit Twitter after trolls accused him of "teaching his kids to be racist".
The ‘Hollyoaks’ actor stopped using the social media site after several described him as an "irresponsible parent" because of his character Ste Hay’s radicalisation storyline, and his husband Carl Hyland – with whom he has two-year-old twins Phoebe and Chase – admitted he was tempted to hit back at the trolls.
Kieron said: "I had people saying things like, ‘You’re teaching your kid to be racist. You’re an irresponsible parent.’
"I just couldn’t deal with people saying things about my kids."
Speaking in a joint interview with OK! magazine, Carl added: "When I see those comments, I want to retaliate but then I’m becoming a keyboard warrior myself and I don’t want to do that."
Ste has joined a right wing extremist group after being groomed by Jonny Baxter (Ray Quinn), and Kieron recently admitted the criticisms even had an impact on his performances as he took the comments to heart.
He said: "It is so hard to watch and it is very controversial but it has to be like that as that is real life.
"I deleted my Twitter because people were hating on me and I was then trying to water down my performance as I didn’t want to offend people, but that is the wrong way to do it.
"I just got rid of it and now I go in every day and I do it to the best of my ability."
‘Hollyoaks’ – which scooped Best Soap at last weekend’s British Soap Awards – have been collaborating with a number of expert advisors and charities for the storyline, which looks in-depth into the problem of radicalisation into far-right extremism.
Despite the backlash on social media, Kieron is pleased to be part of such a significant plot.
He recently said: "The positive messages are off the Muslim community who are saying, ‘Thank you for doing this and being our voice’.
"I hope people realise why we are doing it and hopefully people will get educated."
Kieron Richardson was blasted by trolls as ‘irresponsible parent’
