‘The X Factor’ UK: Christopher Maloney gets death threats, quits Twitter

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a fine example that some people take singing competitions far too seriously, especially when it comes to showing support for some of their favorite artists. Perhaps we should even frame it like this: should Christopher Maloney have been in the bottom two at least on “The X Factor” Sunday night? Sure, and he should have gone home long before Ella Henderson. However, this in no way justifies you saying that you want to kill the man online.

In a series of new Twitter posts, Maloney (who is the last member of Gary Barlow’s Overs) announced that he was going to be leaving the social-media sites for a few days to get away from all of the constant negativity on his feed:

“Ello guys, taking a break from twitter for a bit, need to concentrate on my songs for this week. Ope u understand, thanks 4 ur support. Xx … All the negativity and [insults] I’ve been getting – people trying to bring me down and maybe force me to quit – it’s not going to happen. No way. I’ve worked too hard just for somebody to take it away from me.”

The strange irony here is that really, Gary Barlow is more to blame for Christopher being such a divisive figure more so than his talent. He is actually a great singer, far better than even Rylan Clark, but his dance moves coupled with cheesy song choices have made him into everyone’s favorite whipping boy. The judges have been harsh about him publicly, and there have even been tabloid stories claiming that Maloney was difficult to work with and also showed up late at times for rehearsals.

However, Christopher is not only still in the competition, but both he and Jahmene Douglas are the only two contestants left who have never been in the bottom two at all.

Do you think the public is being a little too cruel to Christopher at this point, even if he is not the best singer by any stretch of the imagination?