Trolls threatened to stab me over rumors I took charity money, says LadBaby
LADBABY has opened up about ‘the toughest time’ of his life after trolls ‘threatened to stab him’ over rumors the family had pocketed charity money from their Christmas number one singles.
The influencer, who recently broke his silence on his historic groping allegations, said that although time has passed, the trauma is still there.
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“As we write this book in 2024, more than three years after the rug was pulled out from under us, we are still affected,” says LabBaby, real name Mark Hoyle.
The 37-year-old, whose new book, Our LabBaby journeywho came out yesterday, said dealing with vile trolls and threats online ”took a huge toll” on his mental health.
It all started just before the holidays on December 10, 2021, when Mark and his wife Roxanne, also 37 and known as LadBaby Mum, revealed their big secret and announced the collaboration with music legends Ed Sheeran and Elton John.
Their Christmas special, Sausage rolls for everyonewould be released the following week and the stars had hoped the song would go to number one – with all profits going to the Trussell Trust.
The trust, now known as Trussell, supports a nationwide network of food banks, providing emergency food and support to people living in poverty, and campaigning for change to end the need for food banks in Britain.
The artists behind the song, which has over 3 million views on YouTube, had a ton of social media lined up and they were set to appear on The One Show on the day of its release.
“We were so excited about what the next few weeks had in store,” said Mark, who took the music industry by storm in 2018 with their debut song “We Built This City on Sausage Rolls.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go smoothly for the couple, who have two children together – and soon things took a sharp turn.
Roxanne, who lived on £20 a week before fame, said: ‘But there was a reaction so fast and so fierce it was like a slap in the face.
”It seemed to be sparked by a singer/songwriter we’d never heard of,” the 37-year-old said, adding that the artist had a problem with their song being released on the same day as his.
Immediately after the couple publicly announced the collaboration with Ed and Elton, the star reportedly posted a video to his social media, in a desperate attempt “to stir up some anti-LadBaby feeling” to prevent them from “hitting the number one come’. ‘ – and it worked.
Before the traumatic incident, Mark and Roxanne – who have remained modest despite their growing fame – were said to mainly boast a friendly following on social media.
But suddenly, once the video was posted online, the couple started receiving “messages that came from pure malice and there was so much of it.”
Mark, who described it as being like being in a ‘pressure cooker’, suffered from sleepless nights.
“I would stop the worst offenders, but it was a blow to a mole,” he said.
”I’d get rid of them – and then five more would appear.”
Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come, after Mark appeared in an interview and shared his honest thoughts about the “anti-government song” that the other artist launched during the holidays.
”’It takes a certain kind of person to download a song
so much swearing in the title,” I said, “but you never know.
Who is Ladbaby Mum and what is she famous for?
Roxanne Hoyle is the wife of Mark Hoyle, also known as LadBaby.
Together they are the online family entertainment personalities and comedy duo behind LadBaby and LadBabyMum.
LadBaby took the music industry by storm in 2018 with their debut song ‘We Built This City on Sausage Rolls’.
The couple followed this up with four more hit singles for charities to make history by becoming the only acts in British music history to score FIVE consecutive Christmas number one singles in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. 100% of all proceeds from the tracks will go directly to supporting the British food bank, The Trussell Trust.
In 2021, LadBaby entered the world of children’s picture books with their debut title: Greg the Sausage Roll – Santa’s Little Helper.
In 2023, the couple started a podcast, Live, Laugh, Love.
In 2024, Mark & Rox released an autobiography, and now they’ve just released their own family board game, titled ‘Sausage Roll’.
The couple have had collaborations with the likes of Jet2 and Smyths Toys, and Rox has even had her own clothing edit with In The Style and Asda.
”There is certainly an element that people are not happy with
this government, but our song is for a good cause. . . and ours is
trying to raise more money than ever for food banks.
”It is something that is even more important given everything
that’s what’s going on,” he said, speaking to the Official Charts.
The person spreading the hate had managed to find an interview from two years ago – an interview that Mark had forgotten he did with The Guardian in 2019.
But while record label PR wanted the influencer to focus on food banks, the publication asked for his views on the Conservatives being re-elected after the general election.
“She had pushed me a little bit and asked who I had voted for, and who I had voted for
replied that although I had voted yes, I preferred not to say for whom.”
Two years later, the rival had all the “proof” he needed, LadBaby said.
”He posted that old interview and started talking about it,
‘LadBaby is a Tory, he voted Tory, the Tories are the reason
Food banks exist and LadBaby voted them in.”
None of it was true. Not a little
Roxanne Hoyle
Roxanne intervened: ‘He accused us of using food banks ‘to gain records’ and ‘lucrative sponsorship deals’.
”And, most despicable of all, to ‘strengthen’ our bank balance.
”He said we were taking advantage of the charity singles. None of it was true. Not a little.”
The falsehood took hold – and then spiraled out of control online, where Mark and Roxanne had disabled all monetization on their channels for the Christmas period.
Roxanne, who along with Mark had indeed voted Labor in the 2019 election, continued: ‘I was constantly on edge and felt extremely unsafe.
“We heard people on the street saying, ‘Look, it’s those damn dicks…’
heads,” and then whisper about “the charity money.”
”We were getting threatening DMs and emails saying, ‘We.’
know where you live,” and I started not wanting to leave the city
house because I knew there were people who believed
what they had read and seemed ready to lash out at us.”
According to Mark, the couple also faced more violent threats than others.
It was the worst time of my life. We were accused of something we didn’t do
BoyBaby
”There were messages from people asking if they had ever seen me
around Nottingham they would stab me.
”A child came to me at a house in Nottingham Forest
game and asked me to sign his copy of Greg the Sausage Roll,
which of course I did with great pleasure.
“Unbeknownst to me, someone a few rows away had filmed this encounter and then posted it on Twitter saying, ‘Look at this damn two*t. He really thinks he’s someone now.”
Roxanne was also subjected to an army of brutal comments, with DMs saying the sick and crazy trolls would follow LadBaby home – ”and kill him”.
Although the couple, who Daily Star reports this are worth more than £1.2 million, reported this to police, authorities said ”there was nothing they could do”.
”Eventually I had to stop reading the comments myself
mental health.
”I had to be mentally well for the children and myself
I couldn’t stand it,” the mother-of-two said, as Mark admitted he was “blocking people left, right and centre.”
”It was the worst time of my life. We were accused of it
something we hadn’t done, but denying it seemed to save it
even worse,” LadBaby added.
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