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Episode Recap: Gleek Tragedy
A TV fan becomes a worldwide villain after tweeting a spoiler, while hitting the wrong emoji on a Facebook post turns a Facebook fanatic into a fugitive.
As an aspiring actress and a fan of the show, Glee, Nicole was thrilled to be cast as an extra on the show. Yet her dream of stardom was thwarted when she sent out a tweet about the Season Finale. To Nicole, her tweet was a harmless prediction about what characters would be named prom king and queen from rumors she heard from fellow Glee extras, yet people were outraged by Nicole's statement, taking it as an episode spoiler. Nicole received death threats that were so frightening her father hired a bodyguard for her protection. And to make matters worse, the executive producers of Glee voiced their displeasure with Nicole, which launched a series of debates across pop culture about background actors needing to sign strict confidentiality contracts while onset. The entire ordeal sullied Nicole’s name in the entertainment industry. One tweet ended Nicole’s acting career before it truly had the chance to begin.
Sierra McCurdy was always extremely active on Social Media, posting pictures, commenting on pop culture and other news. So when she commented on a breaking news story about two officers in her hometown being shot and killed, Sierra tapped what she thought was a “crying face” emoji and went to bed. Yet when she woke up, she realized that instead of hitting the “crying face” emoji, she had unintentionally tapped the “laughing face” emoji, making it look like she was laughing at the officer's deaths. Oy. Sierra received several death threats and her car was run off the road in her hometown where she was labeled a “cop hater”. Then, someone leaked all of her personal information including her date of birth, social security number, where she lived and her job address. Even after Sierra called both of the officer's families to give her condolences and to apologize for the mistake, the public’s harsh criticism of Sierra did not subside. The harassment and backlash got so bad that her and her whole family had to go into hiding.
Find out what life is like for Nicole now.
and also …
Find out what happened to Sierra in the aftermath of #emojigate.
