By Brett Lackey For Daily Mail Australia
22:09 02 Mar 2024, updated 09:01 03 Mar 2024
A real estate agent is under fire after a string of offensive ‘body shaming’ comments were made by his Facebook account towards a fan of pop superstar Pink.
Taylor Johnson on Thursday excitedly shared a picture of herself modelling the outfit she had bought to wear to Pink’s March 12 concert at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
‘Had to share it, will also have my hair done and nails on… If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all,’ the young mother wrote to the Pink 2024 World Tour Facebook group.
However, shortly after the post went up, between the many supportive comments, was one from the account of Troy Merker that said: ‘Did you look in a mirror?’.
The comment sparked a wave of backlash from other Pink fans in the group, yet that only resulted in even more offensive comments from Mr Merker’s account.
By the weekend the fallout had spilled over into Mr Merker’s two Brisbane based businesses – a real estate agency and a hairdressing salon – as Pink fans left a flood of unfavourable reviews.
Mr Merker operates an @Realty business which was selling active real estate listings as recently as mid-last year and which services the Brisbane, Caboolture and Bribie Island markets in southeast Queensland.
He is also the founder and creative director of Frank and Ginger Hair Studio located in Northlakes in Brisbane’s north, whose social media is filled clients showing off their styled locks.
Mr Merker told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday that following the comments that were made on the Pink fan page he is ‘getting spammed by these women’.
‘There’s been 196 hits on my business account and 200 hits on my personal account,’ he said.
‘I’ve spent nine years building my business up to a 5-star rating on Google and it’s gone down to a 1.6 overnight.’
After being pressed on whether he agreed with the ‘body shaming’ comments Mr Merker said he did not.
Mr Merker claimed that someone he knew had been using his phone and sent the rude messages on his account.
Ms Johnson, however, showed Daily Mail Australia messages sent to her on Friday evening by a Nathan Young who claimed to be Mr Merker’s partner with a different explanation.
They said Mr Merker’s account had been hacked and that it was the hacker who had been posting messages on the Pink fan page.
Ms Johnson said that while she was initially hurt by the comments she also found a lot of support online.
‘People online feel like they can say whatever they want regardless of the effect and they can’t be touched,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘I don’t know Mr Merker at all but after seeing the comments I was discouraged. I had been planning that outfit for months.
‘But no matter what one person might say I also had hundreds of people say how amazing and good I look and that they wanted the outfit for themselves.
‘That has made my heart so full and yes I will be wearing that to Pink
‘I hope anyone that’s being bullied remembers they are amazing and it doesn’t pay to try and put that pain onto others, they will get so much further being kind,’ she said.