Splashed across their front cover was an image of Steenkamp, who was killed yesterday in South Africa, spilling out of a hot pink bikini with her name mentioned nowhere on the page. The staggering poor taste repulsed readers, and soon hash tag #HerNameWasReevaSteenkamp began trending on Twitter.
Steenkamp’s lover Oscar Pistorious appearing in court this morning charged with her murder.
A petition calling for an apology has been signed by nearly 2,000 people so far, with an open letter to The Sun stating: “The complete disregard you have shown for Reeva by plastering a picture of her in a bikini, whilst reporting her death, is inhuman and repugnant”
Lord Prescott – former Labour Deputy Prime Minister – led the charge of complaints to The Sun’s newsdesk, by posting the telephone number of The Sun and editor Dominic Mohan’s work email address on his Twitter feed, reports digitalspy.co.uk.
Here are just some of the reponses to the front page:
If you want to complain to The Sun’s news desk about their front page the number is 0207 782 4104 #HerNameWasReevaSteenkamp
— John Prescott (@johnprescott) February 15, 2013
The Sun’s family values: a woman is never too dead to be masturbation fodder. A new low, and i’m not linking. #HerNameWasReevaSteenkamp
— Ellie Cumbo (@EllieCumbo) February 14, 2013
#hernamewasreevasteenkamp she had a law degree + spoke out about violence against women put that on your front page you misogynistic wankers
— Ashleigh-Rose Harman (@ashleighrosehar) February 15, 2013
There are no words for how disgusting The Sun are for running this front cover today: twitter.com/PoppyD/status/…
— Poppy Dinsey (@PoppyD) February 15, 2013
