A CASTLE in Fife is at the centre of a social media storm after a statement criticising the SNP.
Balgonie Castle is facing a backlash after its social media account called the SNP a “poor political joke gone seriously wrong” in an attack on those responding to an online anti-independence post.
The Facebook account of the exclusive events and wedding venue published a statement on Saturday claiming they will “remain neutral” in the event of a second independence referendum, stating they “will never support an independence referendum” and that they also voted to leave the EU.
Kelly Morris, who deals with social media accounts for the castle as well as living there, said that she had felt the need to post the statement after they had allegedly been attacked online when a link to their page had been shared to an independence-supporting group.
When asked what the post said, Morris responded: “I don’t know. It was in Gaelic. I don’t understand Gaelic.”
As social media users responded to the post, the war of words escalated.
In a response to George McGrory, the Balgonie Castle account said that “the SNP are a poor political joke gone seriously wrong, voted for by sheep that can’t quite grasp politics”.
Facebook user Gordon J Cowie asked how they could claim to be neutral whilst also saying they would oppose a second referendum. The account responded that “you may well support SNP nationalist beliefs, but this business has a right to voice how they feel” before Cowie informed them he was a member of the Scottish Greens.
Morris claims that, while she had posted the original statement, these comments were made by “a friend” who had access to the account, and her mother.
She said: “One of the editors to my page kind of went off, then my mother got involved with it.”
She stated that the friend involved did not have permission to make those comments and would no longer be able to comment on Facebook on behalf of Balgonie Castle.
She went as far as saying that they would not be setting back up a
Facebook page and concluded: “I deeply regret my friend kicking off like that.”
Morris claimed she was concerned that the businesses would suffer as a result of the social media backlash, and claims the business had already been hit after facing a boycott during the independence referendum for remaining neutral.
The castle is no stranger to controversy.
Earlier this year Morris said on social media that a bride-to-be who had hired the castle could “could go get f**ked” after questioning their prices.
Morris went on to state publicly that they had reduced the deposit for the bride-to-be “because she could not afford the down payment”.
The bride in question had raised on a forum, without naming the venue, that they had been asked to pay for the food three months in advance and that no child prices were available, and wanted to know if these things were normal.
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