LEGENDARY Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has sent a message of support to Janey Godley – after a “vile” and “despicable” attack advert from the Scottish Tories aimed at the comedian.
Godley said her year had been made thanks by the show of solidarity from Hamill, who has 4.8 million followers on Twitter where he made the remark.
SNP MSP James Dornan is among those to have called for Douglas Ross (below) to apologise over an advert made up as a mock “contract” for someone to star in a public health campaign posted on his party’s Twitter account.
It read: “The First Minister chose to make her nationalist friend the face of a crucial public health campaign despite admitting she was seen as a partisan political figure.
“When will @NicolaSturgeon apologise for this irresponsible decision?”
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The reference was to Godley’s previous appearances in a Scottish Government Covid-19 public health campaign, for which she was paid £10,000.
Godley was pulled from the campaign in September 2021 after past tweets she had sent resurfaced, for which she apologised unreservedly.
The Scottish Tory post received a fierce backlash, coming as Godley battles ovarian cancer.
She announced her diagnosis late last year and has since had a successful operation. The Glasgow comic is undergoing chemotherapy.
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Luke Skywalker himself intervened as Godley has faced waves of abuse from Unionists and Conservatives on Twitter.
She tweeted yesterday: “Today has been tough, staying focussed on my well being and trying to make sure the chemo isn’t affecting my mental health too much. Thanks everyone for sending me love today”
In reply to that, Hamill wrote simply: “For Janey: ❤️”
Responding to a Twitter user who said it must have made Godley’s “Day. Week. Year.”, she said: “Indeed.”
Godley added: “Thank you Mark, everyone has been so bloody amazing and supportive ❤️”
Thank you Mark, everyone has been so bloody amazing and supportive ❤️ https://t.co/9LZHDwbOMv
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) February 12, 2022
SNP MSP Karen Adam praised Hamill, who is also a noted voice actor, saying: “What a lovely thing to do. 🥰”
An SNP source has previously described the Scottish Tory tweet as “utterly despicable and lacking in humanity”.
It has been liked or retweeted by Scottish Tories including Miles Briggs, Alexander Burnett, Douglas Lumsden, Russell Findlay and Meghan Gallacher.
Dornan (below) said the post was a "new low" for the Tories, given Godley's health.
He said: “If Douglas Ross has a shred of decency he would be publicly apologising for this deeply insensitive attack and for causing additional distress to a seriously ill woman.
“Ross must explain if he authorised such an obviously despicable campaign, order that the offensive post be deleted and discipline every one of his team who promoted or liked it.
“The Tory frontbench really has no shame. Russell Findlay, who is being promoted as the face of Ross’s party, describes himself as shadow community safety minister and justice committee deputy convener. What part of safety or justice is he promoting with vile tweets like this?
“And Meghan Gallacher should explain why she considered the offensive tweet worthy of three laughing emojis. She is supposed to be a spokesperson on children and young people. What sort of example does she think this sets to them?
“Douglas Ross has tried to distance himself from his Westminster colleagues – and the nastiness of Boris Johnson’s vile Jimmy Savile smears – but this grossly insensitive attack on a seriously ill woman demonstrates the Scottish Tories are cut from the same nasty cloth. There is not a gutter to which they will not descend.
“There is no place in Scotland’s political discourse for the weaponizing of anyone’s illness in an offensive and misguided attempt to score political points. The behaviour of all those senior Tories is shameful and they should all apologise individually.”
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