Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda Williams, was harassed last week on Twitter, forcing her to leave the social media service.
A few users sent her bogus photos that purported to be of Williams’ dead body. She responded in disgust and left. “I’m sorry. I should’ve risen above. Deleting this from my devices for a good long time, maybe forever. Time will tell. Goodbye,” she wrote.
According to reports, Twitter has cracked down on the offenders. The users, @PimpStory and @MrGoosebuster, were both suspended.
On Thursday, Twitter released a statement about the matter.
“We will not tolerate abuse of this nature on Twitter. We have suspended a number of accounts related to this issue for violating our rules and we are in the process of evaluating how we can further improve our policies to better handle tragic situations like this one. This includes expanding our policies regarding self-harm and private information, and improving support for family members of deceased users,” Twitter Vice President of Trust and Safety Del Harvey said, according to The Wire.
On Tuesday, another friend of Williams--Late Show host David Letterman--offered his thoughts on the matter.
“We’re like morning dew [and] he comes in like a hurricane,” Letterman said, according to Rolling Stone. “And the longer he’s on stage, the worse we feel about ourselves because it’s not stopping! Then he finishes and I thought, ‘Well that’s it. They’re gonna have to put an end to show business because what could happen after this?’”
Letterman added: “What I will add here is that, beyond being a very talented man and a good friend and a gentleman, I am sorry I, like everybody else, had no idea that the man was in pain and the man was suffering. But what a guy.”
