Man's angry tweet about Christmas backfires spectacularly
LONDON — Extending an offer to the Twittersphere — even the rhetorical, angry, throwaway kind — can be a risky business.
There's always the chance people might take you up it.
SEE ALSO: U.S. author tweets that London is 'all Islamic', gets immediately shut down
Over the weekend, Twitter user @AnishUKIP posted two (now deleted) tweets about Christmas.
"I know this is early, Merry Christmas to all," he wrote. "We are a western Christian country. If this country loses its identity the rest is meaningless."
Then, he tweeted this:
Can anyone who is offended by #UKIPChristmas and who needs a free lift to the airport contact @AnishUKIP for details. Please RT. 🎄🚕✈️ pic.twitter.com/fZjzuEe8yF
— Christmas®Watch (@XmasWatch) December 4, 2016
It wasn't long before people started taking him up on the offer.
.@AnishUKIP Hi Anish - I'm offended by Christmas and I'm flying out of Luton on Thursday. Pick me up at about 10.15am?
— Tim (@ruudboy) December 3, 2016
@AnishUKIP Hey Anish, I'm offended by Christmas, can I get a lift to stansted on Monday 12th of Dec, and. Pick up on the 19th awesome thanks
— Brendon Hope (@BrendonHope) December 3, 2016
So many people.
@AnishUKIP i am very offended by christmas and i would hate it if I had to leave the uk via heathrow at two pm on the 23rd
— Noël-by 🇨🇽 (@Alby) December 3, 2016
@Alby @AnishUKIP I'm also heading off from Heathrow on the 23rd, think you could swing by mine as well? Could car share?
— Sam Wise (@SamWise24) December 3, 2016
Days later and the requests were still flooding in.
.@AnishUKIP Hi Anish, I'm offended by Christmas and would hate to be shipped off to Spain via Gatwick on 5th January. Thanks doll!
— Rachel M (@montfelisky) December 5, 2016
Hi @anishukip, is this the one I tweet for free airport pickups? Do you do early mornings to Edinburgh airport? Offended by xmas etc. Thx.
— Fergus Boden (@fergusboden) December 4, 2016
A roundup of the whole exchange was posted by comedian Bethany Black on Sunday. It's since been shared by J.K. Rowling and retweeted around 24,000 times.
I love it when twitter is perfect like this. pic.twitter.com/VEDQgZ09rb
— Bethany Black (@BeffernieBlack) December 4, 2016
@AnishUKIP's Twitter account, meanwhile, has now been set to private. Presumably his original offer has been rescinded.
