Oakville prof @TomGreen cyber-bullied on Twitter over handle

A battle over the Twitter handle @TomGreen has led to a slew of abusive comments against an Oakville college professor from fans of an American radio show and fans of Canadian comedian Tom Green.

Prof. Tom Green teaches interactive multimedia at Humber College and snapped up the Twitter handle @TomGreen before the comedian Tom Green – who sends messages to his followers under the user name @TomGreenLive.

Two weeks ago, the comedian appeared on popular American satellite radio program The Opie & Anthony Show to promote his new tour. During the show, Green made an offhand remark about his Twitter account, saying he would likely have more followers if he could use @TomGreen.

The hosts then asked “You need us to take care of this thing? We’ll take care of this thing.” The comedian tried to diffuse the situation on air, saying “I don’t want to get into a Twitter war.”

However, the hosts then sent out a tweet reading, “Why don’t you let the real Tom Green have this name. Stop being so selfish.”

That led to hundreds of abusive comments to Prof. Green, some of which Opie (whose real name is Gregg Hughes) and Anthony Cumia read aloud on-air during the Jan. 25 broadcast.  

To listen to the broadcast, click the link below. NOTE: audio contains explicit language.

“Since then, I’ve received about 1,000 abusive tweets. [Wednesday], between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., I got approximately 200 tweets basically telling me to get a shot gun and shoot myself,” the Oakville Green told CityNews.ca in a phone interview.

“I think Opie and Anthony really need to be held accountable. It’s cyber-bullying.”

The comedian would not speak to CityNews on camera about the incident but did say in a Twitter conversation that he had nothing to do with the attacks on the professor.

Here is a sample of the tweets received by Prof. Green, many of which were riddled with swear words.

[View the story “New Story” on Storify]

Another tweet sarcastically – and incorrectly – linked Green to a recent, massive child pornography bust in Ontario.

To view more tweets, click here. NOTE: page contain explicit language.

“This is a non story being manipulated by somebody other than myself. I am happy being @TomGreenlive,” the comedian told CityNews via Twitter.

“This is not being instigated by me,” he wrote.

[View the story “Tom Green Tweet” on Storify]

He later pointed CityNews to a blog post on his website saying he does not endorse the cyber-bullying, and doesn’t even want the Twitter handle.  

On his website, Green also reached out to Prof. Green directly, saying he would be happy to speak to his Humber College class and have “a laugh about it all.”

Reacting to that, Prof. Green told CityNews: “I think he really realized he made a mistake. Thank you very much. I most appreciate it.”

However, Prof. Green still holds the radio program responsible, and says he’s yet to receive an apology from the hosts, or even acknowledgment that they’ve done anything wrong.

The hosts of Opie and Anthony did not respond to requests for comment from CityNews.

What do you think about this Twitter-handle battle? Tweet us @CityNews or leave a comment below.