Actor Hugh Grant's furious tweet about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend parliament has gone viral as outrage over the controversial move raged on social media.
Mr Grant, who famously played the role of British prime minister in 2003 rom-com Love Actually, called Mr Johnson an "over-promoted rubber bath toy" in an expletive-ridden post that has been retweeted more than 70,000 times as of Thursday afternoon.
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star addressed the prime minister directly telling him: "You will not destroy the freedoms my grandfather fought two world wars to defend."
But Mr Grant was not the only celebrity to get involved in the debate.
Fellow actor Stephen Fry described the decision to prorogue (suspend) parliament a “sick, cynical brutal and horribly dangerous coup d’etat".
Weep for Britain. A sick, cynical brutal and horribly dangerous coup d’état. Children playing with matches, but spitefully not accidentally: gleefully torching an ancient democracy and any tattered shreds of reputation or standing our poor country had left.
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) August 28, 2019
Former footballer and vocal anti-Brexit campaigner Gary Lineker sarcastically tweeted: "Great to get our sovereignty back."
Great to get our sovereignty back.
— Gary Lineker 💙 (@GaryLineker) August 28, 2019
Best-selling novelist Philip Pullman was criticised for a comment he made about the prime minister.
In a now-deleted tweet, he said: “When I hear the name ‘Boris Johnson’, for some reason the words ‘rope’ and ‘nearest lamp-post’ come to mind as well”.
The author clarified on Thursday that he did not advocate hanging Mr Johnson. “I think that would be a very bad idea," he said.
Freedom of speech, like freedom of assembly, is precious. So is life. Just to make it perfectly clear: I wouldn't kill the prime minister, and I don't want anyone else to. But I don't apologise for the anger I feel; only for its intemperate expression.
— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) August 29, 2019
While television cook Nigella Lawson was more reserved in her response, retweeting a thread, which called the prorogation an “assault on parliamentary democracy”.
When a Dutch social media user said they had been left saddened by the decision, she replied: “Impossible not to.”
Impossible not to
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) August 29, 2019
The outrage even spread across the pond, with American celebrities weighing in on the discussion.
Emmy-award winning comedian Kathy Griffin cheered Hugh Grant’s angry Twitter post.
“OH! A celebrity didn’t “stay in his lane.” We need a hell of a lot more of this. The times we are in our nothing like anything the planet has ever seen. Not hyperbole. As many people, with large platforms, who realize we are losing democracy all over the world should be posting,” she said.
While Star Trek actor George Takei compared Boris Johnson's actions to democratic obstructions in the US.
The anti-Democratic actions of Boris Johnson in the UK now rival those of Mitch McConnell in the US. https://t.co/oHH3WHioZ9
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 28, 2019
More than 1.5 million people have signed a petition calling for the prorogation to be overturned.
However, Brexiters in the Britain's ruling Conservative Party supporting the suspension seem so far undeterred by protestations both online and on the streets.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led a delegation of MPs to Queen Elizabeth's residence in Scotland on Wednesday to request the parliamentary suspension, described the anger as a "candyfloss of outrage".
"The people who are banging on about no deal and the candyfloss of outrage that we have had over the past 24 hours - which is almost entirely confected - is from people who never wanted to leave the European Union," Mr Rees-Mogg told the BBC.
