Bobby Norris has called for online homophobia to be a criminal offence after he was the victim of "vile and disgusting" trolling.
While the ‘Only Way Is Essex’ star has grown a "thick skin" over the years with regards to online abuse, he fears younger members of the LGBTQ+ community are being trolled "24/7" on social media, so he wants to implement a bill which would lead to harsher punishments for trolls.
Speaking on ‘Loose Women’ he said: "I have gone through this, what I can only call, vile and disgusting online homophobia.
"I have got a thick skin; I am a little bit older. I know if I was a teen and I was receiving that online hate … I don’t think it’s any coincidence that mental health is on the rise.
"I am no psychologist but there has to be on a knock-on effect. When I was at school, if you got bullied, it was at school.
"Now they wake up and they see it, they go to bed and they see it, its 24/7. It shouldn’t be acceptable to throw that much hate [around]."
The 32-year-old reality star explained that while he doesn’t feel offenders should be "thrown inside", he does feel there needs to be "consequences" for "abusing people".
Bobby added: "I am not saying we should throw people inside. People need to be held accountable, whether their accounts are suspended, whether they are fined, whether their email address is flagged up.
"It is so easy to delete an account and then open another one.
"You see it time and again, they just have an egg as a picture, no followers and they are just getting off on abusing people. It’s a can of worms. I don’t know what your punishment would be, but there should be consequences."
Bobby Norris calls for ‘vile and disgusting’ online homophobia to be criminal offence
