http://www.towleroad.com/2015/10/mark-byron/


Mark Byron, a contestant on the UK’s Big Brother, was attacked with a friend in the city center of Liverpool, UK after leaving a pub,*theLiverpool Echo*reports:

Mark, 25, was leaving the Black Rabbit, on Fleet Street, with friends when an man grabbed him by his hair and allegedly shouted homophobic abuse.*The violent thug then punched the terrified TV star to the floor.*Mark’s friend, Paul, then stepped in to defend him – ending up with a broken shoulder and fractured skull.

Byron’s friend was unconscious in the street and nobody helped. Even worse, people were trying to take selfies with the victim.

Said Byron: “It was disgusting. While we were waiting for an ambulance to arrive, drinkers were trying to take selfies with Paul who was covered in blood.*Drinkers were standing by and laughing at the appalling scene before them.*I feel so guilty about what happened to my friend who stepped in for me.*I’m proud to be from Liverpool, but disgusted this happened to us in our home city.”

Police are looking for the attacker, who fled the scene in a cab. Byron’s friend is in stable condition at the hospital.

That is absolutely sick.

I hope Mark and his friend are going to be ok.

it's 2015, not the 1920s..who cares if people are gay!

He's an annoying twerp but that's awful. I hope he and his friend recover quickly and that the offender is caught and severely punished.

Clearly someone, hence why they appear to have assaulted a gay man whilst shouting homophobic abuse.

I'm not surprised by the violent thug. Even in this day and age you still get those nasty bastards around.
But what's possibly more a state of society at the moment is the behaviour of the bystanders.
It's that what makes it seem like people are getting worse, not the violent thug.
Their actions are what condone and reinforce the actions of violent thugs.

That's disgusting behaviour...........no-one deserves to be assaulted like that. No matter what your sexual orientation is!
I hope the git who carried out the attack is caught & punished.

I despair of society nowadays, how anyone can stand by & watch something like this is beyond me. And to actually take selfies with the unconscious victim just beggars belief!

if thats what happened.

So true...actually scary

You make a good point, sadly I can't see things changing any time soon.

Yes, and I wonder whether any of those who brought out their phones to take selfies took pictures of the attack -- something that might be rather helpful to the police.


The article said "Byron’s friend was unconscious in the street and nobody helped." But what were they supposed to do by then? Evidently an ambulance had been summoned.

It's not clear how many were around earlier, when the attack occurred, or what it might have been possible for them to do then.

Liverpool Echo
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/...sault-10175768


Update from Mark
https://twitter.com/MrMarkByron?ref_...Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Why the doubt?

The bloke didn't want to press charges.
I wonder if there's more to this story than meets the eye?

I'm not surprised either. There are a lot of bitter, jealous, frustrated people around these days who vent their anger through violent action. Shameful.

The lack of any sort of empathy from passers by is kinda scary too.

Taking a selfie wouldn't have been at the forefront of my mind!

And now I'm imagining snapchat pics of the unconscious bloke with the tagline "rekt kek"

I think the people that label attacks like this as "homophobic" credit the attackers with too much forethought.

I was fat as a kid / teenager, I got beaten up a couple of times by idiots, as they did they called me "Fat ****" and the like. When the same bullies beat up my Ginger friend they called him a "Ginger ****" and when they beat my other friend up, who wore glasses, they called him a "four-eyed ****"

Was I attacked "because" I was fat? No, I don't think so. Was my attack a Fat-o-phobic attack? No.
I was attacked because they were idiot bullies and that is what they do! and they simply used the fact that I was overweight as a stick to beat me with, just as they did with the other kids.

Same here I'd guess, small minded idiots beating a human up, Why is that not bad enough in itself? Do we have to add a 'phobia' tag to it for people to be suitably horrified?

True, animals like that guy will try to find any excuse to justify behaving like an animal. But maybe the reason for labeling the attack homophobic is because it's been investigated as a hate crime?

I think the point is that the doormen in the club did nothing to help stop attack, when the expectation is for them to do so, and they refused to supply towels and water when Denise Fergus asked for them.
The ambulance took half an hour to arrive.

The person who assaulted him cared. And it doesn't matter what era it is, because sadly bigotry will always exist.

That said, the attack on Mark could just as easily have been racially motivated.

It could, but the homophobic slurs suggest otherwise.

There's a thought.............along with the "allegedly " in the report !

Devastating

is that your best fella ?