Twilight star Robert Pattinson has spoken about the racist abuse girlfriend FKA Twigs has suffered online since the couple went public with their relationship last year. Pattinson said those who send negative comments are not ‘normal people’ and instead described them as ‘demons who live in basements’.

Robert Pattinson and FKA TwigsRobert Pattinson has spoken out about the racist hate girlfriend FKA Twigs has received.

Speaking to NME about the abuse his girlfriend receives online Pattinson said, "I was talking to my dad about this and I bet him that if he looked up Nelson Mandela's funeral on YouTube, the first comment would be a racist one. And it was, with like a million up votes.”

"What I don't get is why. I think it's because most normal people are not commenters - I've never met anyone who's left a comment on anything. It's just demons who live in basements.”

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“You have this weird thing where you end up trying to fight against this faceless blob, where the more you hate it, the bigger it gets, because it's all in your head,” Pattinson added.

Last year Twigs tweeted that she was left ‘shocked and disgusted’ at the amount of racism  she’d experienced online since news of her relationship with Pattinson broke. "Racism is unacceptable in the real world and it's unacceptable online,” the musician wrote.

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For Pattinson, who’s not present on any social media, it’s still hard for him to escape negativity on the internet and the actor did admit he sometimes reads online comments. "I go through periods where I don't do it at all and feel glorious!” the 29 year old said.

“Then I'll fall back into this pit. It really does affect you, and it all comes from some moron sitting on a comment board,” he added. “It’s always that person who's needling away at you, who you either want to destroy or convince them to love you."