Comedian Rosie Jones has responded to a torrent of abuse after she was announced as one of the contestants for the next series of Taskmaster.
The beloved and bonkers Channel 4 show sees celebrities take on chaotic tasks to win points, given out by Greg Davies (The Taskmaster) with the help of (Little) Alex Horne.
Series 17 has only just come to an end but the next batch of famous faces has already been announced, including Rosie.
The lineup also features Andy Zaltzman, Babatunde Aléshé, Emma Sidi and comedy legend, Jack Dee.
However, the announcement was marred by a slew of hate online which was aimed solely at the 33-year-old comedian, who has cerebral palsy.
Much of the abuse included ableist remarks while others dismissed her as ‘not funny’ — despite that not actually being a requirement for the contestants anyway.
Rosie is not on X, having deactivated her account after receiving hate, but did hit back at the trolls via her Instagram profile.
She shared a video with the caption: ‘Here’s my incredibly thought out response to all the hams who are angry that I am on the next series of Taskmaster.’
Her response? A very casual middle finger up to the camera.
‘Hams be ready to be angry for ten weeks straight,’ Rosie added, using ‘ham’ as a derogatory term for her attackers.
Carol Vorderman commented with laughing emojis as the comments filled with supportive messages for the star.
‘GET EM!!!! 😂😂🙌🙌,’ commented Ian H Watkins from Steps, while Bake Off alum Candice Brown added: ‘God I love you.’
She has previously shared how every time she appears on TV, a torrent of abuse is hurled her way and is often focused on her disability.
It did not go unnoticed by fans of the show that she was the only person announced for Taskmaster getting such a visceral reaction online.
Dr. Caoimhe Ní Dhónaill tweeted: ‘Of course nobody has to find any particular comedian funny. But it is notable that of the 5 comedians named for the next Taskmaster series, Rosie Jones is the only one trending.
‘And comments include “she’s only there because she’s disabled/to make up a quota”.’
Mark Grimshaw pointed out: ‘You can dislike Rosie Jones’ comedy without demonstrating such vocal & visceral hatred towards her for doing her job. Just saying you’re not bigoted doesn’t mean you aren’t, when the only comedians that receive this hostility are always from minority groups.’
However, some did reason that Rosie’s relationship with the wider disabled community was exceptionally fraught at the moment after her controversial slur use in a documentary.
‘The ableism surrounding Rosie Jones doing Taskmaster is abhorrent, it always will be,’ wrote Rachel Charlton-Dailey. ‘However, many of you need to clue yourselves up on how much hurt she caused the disabled community last year before you tar us all as ableists for not being thrilled about this.’
Just two weeks ago, Rosie was hounded off X by trolls and penned a goodbye stating she was ‘exhausted’ before deleting the account.
‘I’ve not felt a lot of joy from this social media platform in a long time, so to come on and see I’m trending, yet again, is exhausting,’ Rosie’s last post read.
‘I could say comedy is subjective but the truth is the comments are hurtful. I used to love Twitter but I don’t care for this centre of hate. Goodbye.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Rosie’s reps for comment.
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