By 3 News online staff
The NRL star calling for tougher laws on internet trolling has himself been guilty of sending a threatening tweet.
Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah last year tweeted that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard should be given a noose for her birthday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
This week Farah was calling for Gillard and the police to put an end to vicious trolls online after receiving an offensive message about his late mother.
In September last year, Farah replied to a tweet from Triple M host Mark Geyer asking ‘What would you buy the PM for her birthday? It’s her 50th today’, with “a noose…”.
He responded to complaints about the tweet with: “Some people on twitter obviously can’t take a joke. Lighten up people”.
The next day he tweeted: “no one said anything about suicide”.
The tweets have been deleted – but since retrieved using Twitter tool ‘Topsy’.
Tweets sent to Farah over the weekend by Twitter user Nathan Elliott Gray insulted Farah’s mother and referred to Farah as a “football playing f---“.
Gillard’s office reached out to Farah on Monday, wanting to set up a meeting.
The incident prompted Farah to call for tougher internet laws to stop vicious trolls and commenters online.
In a statement at the beginning of the week, Farah said:
"I was very shocked and appalled to receive this vile comment on my Twitter account," Farah said in a statement on Monday.
"While I'm all for banter on Twitter and people expressing their opinions, this was personal about my late mother who I am still grieving about."
The newspaper has been unable to reach Farah for comment.
3 News