The actor, who appears in U.S. pirate drama Black Sails, was besieged by nasty messages from disgruntled soccer fans after his namesake, a player for the U.K.'s Leicester City Football Club (LCFC), hit headlines over a sex tape filmed in Thailand.

The sportsman and two fellow players issued a public apology after they filmed themselves with three Thai women during the team's tour of the country, and Merlin star Hopper has now attempted to distance himself from the story.

He has moved to clarify his identity in a post on Twitter.com, and urged fellow users to stop sending him abuse.

Hopper writes, "To the people who keep thinking I am the Tom Hopper who plays for LCFC & is in the 'Thai' video that has come out: I haven't been to Thailand."