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Celebrity chef James Martin quits social media after being targeted by 'vile' trolls

CANNES, FRANCE - APRIL 03:  Chef James Martin attends the 'James Martin's French Adventure' photocall at La Rotonde on April 3, 2017 in Cannes, France.  (Photo by Eric Catarina/Getty Images)
James Martin is taking a break from social media. (Eric Catarina/Getty Images)

James Martin is taking a break from social media after receiving a host of abuse from online trolls.

The celebrity chef made the announcement after saying he received a "large amount of vile comments” when an online cooking show he was hosting suffered a series of technical issues.

The Dine With James Martin event saw fans of the chef stump up £35 to take part in an online cook-along with the star.

Read more: James Martin makes pasta for his village amid coronavirus pandemic

But some participants complained that the feed kept freezing, and the 48-year-old had to take to social media to offer his apologies for the problems.

But he also shared his plans to step back from Twitter and Instagram "for the foreseeable future" after being on the receiving end of abusive trolling.

Watch: James Martin shares how he fed his community during lockdown

Martin posted on social media accounts: "Having seen some of the comments posted online regarding last night's cook along and the anger towards me given the technical issues that the production team were having, I would like to apologise again for this and I will be chasing up with Live Nation, the production company, IT team and all the people they hired, to find out the problem.

"Having said that, this is small comfort to some of you online who are quite rightly angry at me. I promise I will be speaking to them tomorrow, I wasn't involved in the IT side of things and know little about it but I will get all the issues raised and sorted as much as I possibly can immediately."

He added: "It's unfortunate they didn't use my team that makes the Saturday show to do this but, as you can imagine, it was all out of my hands.

"To the rest of you who had a good night, thank you but due to the large amount of vile comments posted directly towards me, this will be my last post as I will be taking a break from posting personally and all social media for the foreseeable future."

Read more: James Martin addresses ‘Burgergate’ complaint

He received plenty of messages of support from followers after announcing the decision.

One fan on Instagram said: “To the people who were vile to James, this is another person who is lovely and heartfelt with everything he does and again its you lot who are hurting others because you feel superior on your phone or keyboard.”

Another follower on Twitter responded: “Keep up the good work James, try and ignore these vile keyboard warriors who think its fine to attack celebs on social media. Love your programmes and food and especially the tips I've learned from you.”

Watch: James Martin defends his Saturday Morning show after 'abuse' over social distancing