Stupid? I've got 17 GCSEs says girl whothought 'Barraco Barner' was our President:An audience with beauty salon receptionistwhose story speaks volumes about modernBritain

Gemma Worrall, 20, tweeted about 'our' president 'barraco barner' Within 12 hours, her comment had been retweeted almost 7,000 timesGemma says the misspelling was down to the 'auto-correct' on her phone At first she thought it was funny but became concerned about the reactionGemma has received viscous tweets and even death threats But she adds she has also received lots of positive comments onlineGemma now wants to learn about Ukraine and plans to watch the news

By Jill Foster

PUBLISHED: 00:38 GMT, 10 March 2014 | UPDATED: 00:39 GMT, 10 March 2014

+23

Gemma Worrall, 20, from Blackpool, sent a tweet referring to 'barraco barner' as 'ourpresident'

Opening the front door of her smart terrace house just seconds away from Blackpool’s beachfront, GemmaWorrall’s mother looks decidedly anxious.

‘Can I take your name please?’ she asks, clearly very nervous. I tell her, she half-smiles warily and allowsme inside. ‘Sorry,’ she says. ‘But you can’t be too careful.’

It’s a rather fitting greeting for a family who must be more aware than most of the perils of getting a namewrong.

It was this time last week that their 20-year-old daughter did what millions of people do every day and senta tweet. She had been watching a news programme about the unrest in Ukraine and decided — inhindsight, unwisely — to get involved in the debate.

‘If barraco barner is our president, why is he getting involved with Russia, scary,’ Gemma wrote.It’s a corker of a gaffe by anyone’s standards. Making the most powerful man in the world sound more likethe fizzy vitamin supplement Berocca is one thing. Demoting him to leader of the UK is quite another.

Gemma, a receptionist at a beauty salon in the seaside town, was quick to point out that politics is not herstrong suit. But the ripple effect of her blunder was like nothing she could have foreseen.

Within just 12 hours, her comment had been retweeted (where people send on your tweet for others toread again) almost 7,000 times and screenshots of her words were appearing on television newsprogrammes as far afield as Australia, Canada and America.

On Twitter, the hashtag #Barracobarner began trending across Britain (this means it was one of the most

popular hashtags in the country). And a parody account @Barracobarner already has more than 1,500followers.

It was clearly an extraordinarily dippy thing to write. So is Gemma as dumb as her tweet would have herappear?

+23

Tweet: The Blackpool beautician wrote this tweet w ithout checking her facts - or herspelling

+23

+23

No regrets: Miss Worrall said she initially thought the whole thing was quite funnybut then became concerned about the impact it has had on her family

While Gemma might not be signing up for Mensa any day soon, she’s certainly no Jade Goody. Softlyspoken and articulate, she was educated at a local Catholic school and insists that she has 17 GCSEs —an extraordinary number, as most people obtain 11 at most — in subjects including English, BusinessStudies, Religious Education, Textiles, Technology and Media Studies, all with passes of grade C andabove. She also says she has two A-levels, in Travel and Tourism.

In the immediate aftermath of her tweet, she says she found the whole thing hilarious. But now, stunned bythe global reaction, she says she feels responsible for the detrimental effect it is having on her family.

Her parents — whom she refuses to name for their protection — are worried sick for their daughter’s safetyfollowing numerous vicious and violent tweets to her account. She has even received death threats.

Meanwhile, her elderly grandmother is mortified by the publicity. If anything, it serves as a modern-day parable about the enormous power of social media and how one seemingly innocuous comment online canmake life hell for a thoroughly respectable family.

+23

+23

Miss Worrall, who works at a Blackpool beauty salon, deleted the tweet but thedamage had already been done

+23

Reaction: Former footballer turned DJ Ian Wright joined thousands around the worldin laughing at Miss Worrall

+23

Cruel reaction: Some people took it upon themselves to send unkind messages tothe young beautician

Today, at the immaculate home that she shares with her parents and ten-year-old brother, Gemmamaintains she is still stunned by the reaction.

‘I just can’t believe the effect one silly tweet can have on the world,’ she says. ‘I’m still in shock. Since ithappened, I’ve not really been bothered by it at all — I’m fairly thick-skinned — but now I’m worried abouthow it’s affecting my family.

‘My mum was fuming. My Nan is 85 and it’s really upset her, which I feel so sad about. I just want to draw aline under the whole thing.’

Like 200 million people across the world, Gemma is a regular user of Twitter. She joined the socialnetworking site two years ago.

‘I like that you can socialise with friends on it,’ she says. ‘I’ve got lots of friends at university who tweetregularly, and that’s how we keep in touch. I tweet about five to ten times a day and I try to make peoplelaugh.

‘But generally I tweet about what I’m thinking. I’m going to have to be a lot more careful about doing that inthe future.’

+23

+23

Miss Worrall says she has been sent bullying messages from strangers because ofher tweet

+23

Unpleasant reaction: Miss Worrall was surprised by the vitriol of others

+23

Reaction: Despite deleting the original tweet, screengrabs of it appeared onAustralian and Belgian news

+23

Despite Miss Worrall putting on a brave face, she admitted the comments shereceived upset her

It was in the early hours of last Monday when she was suffering from insomnia that she decided to send herill-fated tweet in what she refers to as her ‘ditzy moment’. She insists she’d had nothing to drink, but hadturned on the television and watched the news.

‘I can’t remember what programme it was — I don’t normally watch the news at all — but this thing came onabout Ukraine and I didn’t really understand it,’ she says. ‘I picked up my phone and decided to tweet.’

She claims that the unfortunate Barraco Barner misspelling was down to an ‘auto-correct’ facility on heriPhone which changed what she originally wrote. Do we really believe her? I type ‘Barack Obama’ on myown iPhone. Nothing happens. Then I try ‘Barraco Barner’. Immediately, my iPhone corrects my intentionalmisspelling to ‘Barack Obama’.

Hmmmm. Are you sure that’s what happened Gemma? ‘I really do know how to spell it,’ she insists.‘Although it’s not the easiest name to spell and I bet loads of people get it wrong. But as for the President[of Britain] bit . . . well, yes, I don’t know what I was thinking there. What can I say? I do sound really stupid.’

Is she aware we actually have a Prime Minister? ‘Yes,’ she smiles. ‘David Cameron. I’m really not as stupidas everyone is making out.’

Gemma sent the tweet and thought no more about it. But in the morning she realised she had become an

online celebrity.

+23

+23

Media storm: Miss Worrall was inundated w ith messages of support as news of hertweet spread

+23

Positive reaction: As Miss Worrall's fame spread, people flocked to show theirsupport w ith kind messages

+23

Fame and fortune? Many commenters suggested Miss Worrall could consider achange of career to reality television

+23

Kind words: After an initial surge of cyber-bullies, people thanked Miss Worrall forcheering them up

+23

Well done: Others on Twitter praised Miss Worrall for not being upset by unkindmessages from strangers

‘I only had 400 followers before all this, and so if I said anything amusing I usually only got around threeretweets. But that morning, when I looked, I’d had 50 retweets and had gained another 1,300 followers.

‘I went to work and put my phone in my locker but it kept going off all the time — it alerts me every time Ihave a new tweet. I rang a friend and said: “What’s going on?” and she couldn’t speak for laughing.

‘I looked back at the tweet I’d sent and realised immediately what I’d done. I thought: “Oh God, that makesme sound so stupid.” But I kept it on there because it seemed to be making people laugh.’

It was when she returned home around 4pm that her family decided enough was enough. ‘I told her todelete the tweet,’ says Mrs Worrall, a petite, elegant woman who says she works in health and social careand also has a university degree.

Her nerves are clearly visible. ‘I was trying to explain to Gemma that you have to be so careful what yousay online. We don’t talk about politics particularly in this house, but we’re very respectful of other racesand other cultures and the last thing we wanted was for Gemma to upset someone.

‘Everyone makes mistakes like that. It’s human nature. It’s just unfortunate that it went around the world.’

Gemma deleted the tweet but it was too late. ‘People had taken a screen shot of it and had put it onto awebsite where people take the mick out of other people’s tweets,’ she says. ‘I still thought it was funny, butthen my Nan got approached by some people in the supermarket who were talking about it. She was reallyconcerned and rang to ask if I was all right.

‘I’ve explained that it’s nothing to worry about, but it’s really bothering her. I’m so worried about her.

‘The next day, I thought it would have died down. But a friend rang and told me my tweet was trending inthe UK. I was even in newspapers in Australia. I was in shock.’

+23

Silly typo: Miss Worrall insists she does know who Barack Obama is and how tospell his name

+23

Spoof account: As Miss Worrall's tweet went viral, a joke account for 'Barraco Barner,UK prez' was set up

+23

Another one: There's also a 'Michelleo Barner' Twitter account for the 'First Lady ofthe United States of Britain'

Although many internet users have seen the funny side, some have been less than kind. She’s receiveddozens of cruel messages, some branding her the dumbest girl in Britain,

‘You’d think that a lot of the vile stuff would come from young people of my own generation, but it seems tobe the mums and dads who say the worst things,’ she says. ‘They’ve said to me “Make sure you don’tbreed” and called me an “oxygen thief”. Strangers have called me a “stupid cow”.’

Alarmingly, one particularly nasty tweeter described a visceral way he would like to kill her. When thisarises in our interview, her mother looks shaken.

‘I didn’t know that, Gemma,’ she says, softly. ‘I didn’t want to worry you, Mum,’ she replies gently.

Although she hasn’t reported the threats to the police or Twitter, Gemma did contact Facebook aboutabuse she’d received on its site.

+23

Miss Worrall has denied cynics claims she wrote the tweet to gain notoriety andsays she'll be more careful over what she writes in future

‘I’m not happy with Facebook,’ she says. ‘All they said was that they had looked into it and weren’t going todo anything about it. So I’ve de-activated my account.’

Will she do the same with Twitter? ‘If it keeps going, yes,’ she says. ‘At the moment, I simply scroll past thenegative comments and read the positive ones. I’ve had loads of messages from people who say I’ve madethem laugh.’

Although she says she doesn’t regret sending the tweet, the experience has opened her eyes to the realityof cyber-bullying.

‘I’ve got lots of friends who have helped me see the funny side, but I feel really sorry for anyone on thereceiving end of this kind of abuse who doesn’t get that kind of support,’ she says.

Cynics have argued that Gemma may have written the tweet to gain notoriety. You only have to see thelucrative ‘careers’ of reality stars Joey Essex, Chantelle Houghton and the late Jade Goody to see thatstupidity is a valuable currency.

But Gemma denies she is a fame-seeker — although she certainly could have cashed in on her fleetingfame if she wished to.

‘I’ve had two radio stations contact me for interviews and Piers Morgan has tweeted me two or three timesto ask if I’ll chat to him,’ she says. ‘Russell Kane, the BBC3 comedian, has asked if I’ll go on his podcastand Ian Wright, the former Arsenal footballer, has asked if I’ll go on his radio show.

‘I’ve been offered thousands of pounds to do a news quiz, but I’ve turned them all down.’

Regardless, it does seem extraordinary that a young girl with so many educational qualifications couldhave made such an error. Does she wish she knew more about politics — and has this experiencechanged her?

‘Definitely,’ she says. ‘I would like to get educated [about Ukraine] now and I’ll definitely make more of aneffort to watch the news. People are saying to me “Go back to school”, but even at school we neverlearned about politics and current affairs.’

Gemma tells me that she intends to go to university to study business. At the moment, however, she issimply working to be able to afford to work in Ibiza over the summer months.

Her phone is constantly buzzing with new tweets and I ask her to read out the last two. ‘I think you’vehandled this whole thing really well, I’m sure it will calm down very soon,’ says one. Another reads:

‘So what if Gemma has got Barack’s name wrong and the fact he is President wrong . . . we’re all human,we’re not all perfect.’

Indeed. As I get up to leave, Gemma thanks me and distractedly asks: ‘What’s your name again?’Part of me can’t help wondering if a Gill Forrest might appear in one of her tweets very soon.

Comments (0)

Share what you think

Who is this week's top commenter? Find out now

Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group

© Associated Newspapers Ltd