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Love Island Star Marcel Somerville's Baby Boy Bombarded With Racist Abuse

Love Island Star Marcel Somerville's Baby Boy Bombarded With Racist Abuse

The nine-month-old has already received a tirade of racist abuse online.

Hannah Van-de-Peer

Hannah Van-de-Peer

Warning: This article contains distressing content

Love Island star Marcel Somerville has revealed that his young son has received a storm of racist abuse from trolls online.

Roman Somerville was born to the star and fiancée Rebecca Viera just eight months ago, but has already been receiving explicit messages regarding the colour of his skin.

Featuring on the Let's Talk About It podcast with creator Emily Valentine, Marcel spoke candidly about the heartbreakingly "horrible stuff" sent to him revolving his baby son.

Eight-month-old Roman has already received horrific online abuse. [
Instagram @marcel_rockyb]

"When Roman was born", he said, "we were getting horrible stuff being sent".

He clarified that as well as racially-charged comments, he was also receiving graphic, photoshopped images of Roman "with nooses around his neck". Social media users branded the toddler "another slave".

Marcel gushed about his baby boy, calling him "beautiful and handsome".

Marcel cites his newfound Love Island fame for the exposure to trolls. [
Alamy]

The star cites Love Island as the reason for his increased exposure to trolls and online abuse. He was the first Black contestant on the show, which he believes played a part in the negative attention.

"I was the first fully Black person to be on Love Island", he continued. "So I think from that and being quite popular on the show, has meant that [Roman] has been particularly targeted".

He claimed that he has "100,000 people who follow me on Instagram because they don't like me and they just want to do racist stuff".

Marcel's partner has faced similar comments about their son. [
Instagram @marcel_rockyb]

The new parents have previously spoken out about their experiences with racism, particularly as well-known media figures.

Talking to The Mirror, Rebecca stated that the racism targeted at the pair makes her feel "both angry and scared at the same time".

She particularly cited an experience where people online started to call nine-month-old Roman "ugly", sending her private messages where they continually spouted racist abuse. "I blocked them", she said, "and they just created a new account to continue trolling me and my son".

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/marcel_rockyb

Topics: Love Island, Celebrity, News