AN EX-HOLLYOAKS star has hit back at a Twitter troll who compared him to Jimmy Savile.
Actor Joe Tracini, who played Dennis Savage in the Channel 4’s soap, took to Twitter yesterday to post a video calling out the woman who sent him the vile tweet.
Twitter user @meandbobbie wrote on a post about Tracini: “I will no doubt go to hell in a handcart for this but I really, really don’t like him.
“He makes my flesh crawl as much as that horrible old Jimmy Savile did when I was a bairn.”
Tracini, the son of comedian Joe Pasquale, commented on the tweet: “You know I can read this right? My god.”
He later slammed the woman in his video, saying “don’t call me a pedophile” and went on to express how he struggles when receiving insults.
The 32-year-old followed up his video by calling the troll “an absolute donkey”.
Posted the video yesterday, he wrote: “We’re all trying to collectively not die at the moment, and stuff like this doesn’t help.
“It’s so much easier to be nice than it is to be an a***.”
In the video the actor says: “So I got a tweet from a lady last week that said that I made her flesh crawl and that I remind her of Jimmy Savile.
“Now this is a problem for two reasons. One, don’t call me a pedophile.
“Two, I have a lovely experience online, people are so nice to me, especially given the stuff I talk about.
“But if I get a compliment my brain will chew that once and spit it out. If I get an insult that s*** is swallowed and digested.
Tracini goes on to explain how he struggled to make the video in one sitting.
A second scene cuts to Tracini in different clothes where he explains: “Hi it’s a different day. I filmed that three days ago, and didn’t even finish the video.
“I thought, ‘ what’s the point?’ Because somebody else will say something like that.
“So I’m thinking about it more now than I was ten days ago.”
He went on to encourage his viewers not to let these types of negative comments get you down: “For every hundred nice messages I get, I get one from an absolute donkey.
“There is a chance if you tell someone about your brain you get a donkey.
“But, for every donkey there are another 99 people that give a s***.”
The clip has had over 8,000 likes and hundreds of messages of support from Twitter fans.
One follower wrote: “That was a horrific thing for that woman to have said, utterly UNTRUE and I’m so sorry for its effects.
“You have helped normalise mental illness for me.
“You’ve helped me feel less different and have helped me to be kinder to myself.
“You’re making an important difference to many.
Another posted a photograph of her farm animals, writing: “Oh Joe I love you – ignore the donkeys – unless they’re these donkeys (Jill and Freya).”
And another Twitter user commented: “Love you Joe. The fact you have the grace to call her a lady in the first video speaks volumes.
“I’d use a different word and it wouldn’t be donkey either.
“You are a f****** brilliant human being and help so many people- who all love you.”
Joe, who has borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been posting videos on social media talking about mental health during the pandemic.
In the clips, he has opened up about depression and having suicidal thoughts.
