An actress in the hit series Sherlock has issued a grovelling apology after binning stacks of Daily Mail newspapers in a fit of pique in an airport lounge.
Louise Brealey threw away two large stacks of complimentary papers in the departure lounge at Gatwick airport.
Brealey then uploaded a photograph of her work under the hashtag #binthehate, which was rapturously received by hundreds of Twitter followers:
Just put all the Daily Mails at our Gate at Gatwick in the bin. Had to make two trips. #binthehate pic.twitter.com/OqmNG1nciB
— Louise Brealey (@louisebrealey) November 22, 2016
(NB: The original tweet has since been deleted)
In a follow-up post she said “Of course I know it’s puny and futile but it’s so hard to do anything at all about the lies & fear they peddle. NB support @StopFundingHate”
Stop Funding Hate is a campaign trying to change the opinions expressed by newspapers by putting pressure on advertisers to withdraw their business, which chiefly targets the Mail.
However, she was taken to task – notable by Piers Morgan – and later posted an apology acknowledging that she does not have the right to dictate what people might want to read.
How pathetic. What right do you have to dictate what people read? #binthepcbrigade https://t.co/sf0mligpxy
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 22, 2016
— Louise Brealey (@louisebrealey) November 22, 2016
Brealey’s act of petty defiance against the Mail – which covers her appearances on the showbiz circuit and has been complimentary about her work – gives her something in common with implacable Daily Mail foe Alastair Campbell.
In a long tirade against the newspaper in British GQ, Campebll admitted that he pulls the same trick at the airport, either binning the free copies or covering them up with rival papers so nobody thinks they are there.
Amazing – Alastair Campbell's war on the Daily Mail extends to covering up free copies at the airport https://t.co/eXn4j5SzIs pic.twitter.com/XlSlUhsRjX
— Kieran Corcoran (@kj_corcoran) November 8, 2016
Despite their combined efforts, the Mail continues to be Britain’s second most popular newspaper, with 1,510,000 daily sales, after The Sun‘s 1,670,000.
