Robbie Williams reveals why he's rooting for Wagner on The X Factor and blasts Cher's bullies

Oct 31 2010 by Roz Laws, Sunday Mercury

SUPERSTAR Robbie Williams has attacked internet bullies targeting ‘fragile’ X Factor hopeful Cher Lloyd.

And the Take That singer also revealed he can no longer watch the TV talent show because it makes him feel ‘dirty’ and ‘sick’.

More than 5,000 people have joined a Facebook group called I Hate Cher Lloyd.

Some have doctored images of the 17-year-old, from Malvern, Worcestershire with one giving her devil-red eyes and calling her ‘evil’.

Now Stoke-born Robbie has leapt to the defence of hotly-tipped Cher in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mercury.

He said: “Unfortunately, we do a very good line in bullying people in Britain.

“People don’t realise that there’s someone, a real person, behind these comments – and she’s a fragile 17-year-old who doesn’t know who she is yet.

“It makes me so unhappy that people on the internet can be so carefree with their judgements.

“I think they become desensitised to the bullying and it has become the norm to attack people online.

“I notice it because I live in LA. It’s only when I come back to Britain that I see it and realise that it isn’t right, how we are treating people in the name of entertainment.”