There were no Shades of Grey when writer E.L. James hosted a Twitter Q&A session for her fans. Just unbridled hate.
Perhaps the kinky S&M shenanigans of her creation Christian Grey have made a masochist out of her.
Perhaps she was expecting some star-struck fawning from the legions of fans who had bought her books, but instead the AskELJames hashtag was overrun by Fifty Shades haters who used the opportunity to to accuse James of glorifying stalking and abusive relationships.
#AskELJames was soon trending at number two, worldwide.
Some men, tongue firmly in cheek, asked for relationship advice.
“If I stalk a girl and GPS her car, does that mean it's true love?” asked one poster, while another asked: “#AskELJames I need advice on making a BIG romantic gesture. Should I put a GPS tracker in her phone and make threats if she tries to leave?”
“#AskELJames what's it like telling millions of women it's okay to be in an abusive relationship as long as he's rich,” said @reginaIdkray.
Some also attacked James for the lack of literary in her books.
“Which do you hate more, women or the English language?”wrote @eyeswideshut75, while another user was even more acerbic, saying: “does the E.L. Stand for ELiterate?”
James didn’’t rise to the bait, informing everyone that she would only be answering “real” questions. She described the exercise as “an interesting hour”.
Considering that she is a millionaire many times over because of the vilified books and the movie, she probably won’t be losing any sleep over the vitriol.
Entertainment Reporter