Bobby Norris rose to fame on The Only Way is Essex, and alongside dealing with death threats from online trolls revealed that he was hospitalised in one of two physical attacks over the past couple of years
The Only Way is Essex star Bobby Norris has opened up about being physically attacked over his sexuality.
Bobby, 38, spoke on FUBAR Radio on Wednesday, and revealed that he’d suffered through two physical homophobic attacks over the past couple of years, with one leaving him hospitalised. Speaking to host Ellen Coughlan, he described one horrifying assault from a bigot in London.
“I was on my way into Access All Areas, and I was in Stratford, broad daylight, and a gentleman – and we use that word very, very loosely, because although we’re uncensored, I don’t want to offend – So, let’s just say called me a queer hunt with a C,” he shared.
The star added: “I’ve never really spoken about this publicly, but it is documented, if anyone that thinks I’m just chatting s**t.”
Bobby then admitted: “I was attacked twice in the last couple of years that they call gay bashing. I’m 38 but I feel some kind of shame when you got one of them geezers, literally knocking my veneers out my head and there’s some veneers in there.”
Despite his normal humour, the Celebs Go Dating star added that not everything can be faced with a laugh: “Anyway, I laugh about it because I deal with things internally. It wasn’t funny when I was in a hospital.”
Just a few days before his radio interview, Bobby detailed another hate crime in a video posted on Instagram on January 22. The attack again happened at Stratford, with a man shouting slurs as Bobby simply tried to commute for a meeting.
“So this is a message for the lovely man at Stratford who just gave me a mouthful – and no, not like that. The one who decided to call me a queer hunt with a C, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down,” Bobby said as he walked through a tube station.
He then joked: “Thank you for reminding me, because it’s really easy to forget my sexuality. So it is lovely to be told in such a beautiful way, regularly.
“And I guess it is just a message out there to prove to all the people out there that say homophobia ain’t a thing anymore because ‘we only have racists now in Britain, homophobia don’t exist anymore it’s like the dinosaurs.’”
Bobby concluded: “So ironically I’m on my way into Soho, you couldn’t make it up. But what I’m going to do, I’m going to go to my meeting now in Soho House and I’m going to cry a queer tear into my queer drink and raise the glass to you mate, so have a lovely day.”
Sadly, the Essex native revealed in November that these kinds of experiences aren’t at all rare for him, and alongside face-to-face attacks he deals with death threats online. In one such instance, a homophobic troll threatened to petrol bomb him while outside his house.
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