John Barrowman has said he does not care what people think after his performance at the Glasgow 2014 opening ceremony, including a gay kiss, was criticised on Twitter.
Barrowman and comedian Karen Dunbar performed a song called Welcome to Scotland during the opening ceremony for the 20th Commonwealth Games.
The routine took viewers on a trip around Scotland and included landmarks such as Gretna Green, the Forth Rail Bridge and Nessie.
However, viewers criticised his performance on social media, describing it as "bad" and a "reason to vote Yes in the independence referendum".
The Glaswegian actor has now hit back at his critics. After retweeting some of their negative comments, he tweeted: "I am retweeting the negative because I want you all to see how bitter and nasty and negative some people are:) I am so happy right now.
"I don't care...
"I'm Scottish and you can never take that away no matter what your politics are. Bitterness makes you ugly and old very fast:) happy jb."
Within seconds of Barrowman appearing on the pitch at Celtic Park, the world of Scotland's social media was divided even more than usual.
Kieran Caw, a prominent football tweeter, set the tone and generated hundreds of retweets within seconds with the pithy: "Worst start at Celtic Park since Efe Ambrose's nightmare vs Juve last season."
Irish Glasgow-based journalist Peter Geoghegan added: "This is possibly the most kitschy thing I've ever seen. And I'm from a country that revered the Eurovision."
Glasgow University academic David Archibald said: "There are Scottish people the world over tuning into the #Games2014 opening ceremony and not feeling homesick."
Screenwriter Simon Ricketts tweeted: "Positivity, smiles, silliness, passion, fun, identity yet inclusiveness, music, charity. Yes, I can see why you hate it."
But amid the expected flurry on Scottish independence, the politics of sexuality took centre stage with Barrowman kissing a male dancer, a clear reference to anti-gay laws in many Commonwealth nations.
This morning, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted the picture above and posted: "So many brilliant moments last night, but the new-style Glasgow Kiss had to be one of the best #openingceremony."
Amnesty International tweeted: "A big kiss goes out to the 42 of 53 Commonwealth countries where it is a crime to be gay."
Tom French of the Equality Network, added: "42 of 53 Commonwealth countries criminalise same-sex relationships - that's why this kiss was important."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article