Sam Smith Quits Twitter Following Oscars Speech Backlash

Ah don’t go, Sammy It’s been a long week for Sam Smith. The singer was the centre of a lot of intenert negativity following his Oscars speech in which he inaccurately stated he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. Obviously that statement was false and naturally caused upset for the reams of writers, actors and producers that have won awards. It got even worse for the singer when screenplay writer Dustin Lance Black tweeted at Sam.

Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé. Here's a start: https://t.co/8hGTRtIaMK

— Dustin Lance Black (@DLanceBlack) February 29, 2016

Shade. The tweet spurred river of negativity directed at the star.

someone get @samsmithworld a PR team before he completely ruins his image... — Hector Perez (@JoseHector) March 2, 2016

I'd said no openly gay actor had received #Oscars-that doesn’t detract from @samsmithworld achievement. Congratulations to him & all others!

— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) February 29, 2016

Realising his mistake, Sam took to Twitter to insist that his intentions, while poorly researched, were well meaning. Sam apologised for the “mix-up” and insisted the point of his Oscar speech was to “shine a light” on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Seems the backlash was too much for the 23-year-old and he announced a hiatus from social media earlier today.

I'm logging off for a while. Some Martinis shaken not stirred are definitely in order. — Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) March 1, 2016