Remember Rebecca Black and “Friday?” She’s older, wiser and speaking out about trolls

When she was 13, Rebecca Black became an Internet sensation for all the wrong reasons. The video for her song “Friday”–a naive attempt at pop stardom–turned into a lightning rod for ridicule. It’s since been viewed 121 million times.

Seven years on, she’s still dealing with the aftermath of the abuse. She showed up on the BBC to talk about everything she had to endure.

[Friday] was dubbed “the world’s worst song” by critics, and quickly became one of the site’s most disliked videos, attracting thousands of comments from internet trolls.

Rebecca said it hasn’t been easy to shake off the abuse: “I saw everything. When I started reading those negative comments I just couldn’t stop – I just kept going and going and going.

“People commenting don’t think a real person has to read this and move on with their day.”

Rebecca revealed she hadn’t actually seen the video before it went live: “I saw it the minute it went on YouTube like everyone else.

“We thought, ‘it’s not like this is going to go anywhere’. It’s not like I thought the whole world was going to see it and pick it apart.”

Rebecca’s video racked up millions of views but the reception was mainly negative with hundreds of thousands of abusive comments – including a death threat which police investigated.

“I felt like I had the biggest ‘kick me’ sign on my back and everyone was just lining up before they’d even looked at me,” she said.

“I just had to breathe it all in, suck it up and be good. And doing that while everyone is just constantly ripping away at every piece of you, you are left with bones, you’re left with nothing.”

Watch her interview at the BBC. (Via Steve)