A journalist has hit back at Adrian Portelli after the Melbourne billionaire “unleashed his troll army” and sparked a “swarm of abuse” over the use of a nickname in the headline of an article she wrote. In a piece for the Herald Sun, journalist Fiona Byrne said she became bombarded with “vile” comments after Portelli took issue with being referred to as ‘Lambo Guy’ in the headline of an article she wrote about the fallout from the businessman’s latest cash challenge.Portelli has long been referred to as ‘Lambo Guy’ in the media ever since he arrived at the auction day of the TV show The Block in a Lamborghini in 2022.Byrne said she did not write or “have anything to do” with the headline.Taking a swipe at Byrne, Portelli shared a screenshot of her article in a post on his Instagram Stories on Saturday, slamming the use of the nickname. “Come on Fiona.You can do better than that.
Be respectful and use my real name or I’ll come up with a nickname for you and blast it all over my socials,” he wrote. Portelli then shared a second post, inviting his 463,000 followers to bully Byrne and write their “best comment” for a chance to win $5,000 ($3,136 USD).“If journos wanna bully, let’s bully back,” he wrote.“$5,000 ($3,136 USD) best comment on (Byrne’s) profile.” Over the next 24 hours, Byrne said she became inundated with thousands of “demeaning” and “offensive” comments, including some about her weight and appearance.“I was told to go and jump off a bridge (kill myself), described as a b**** that needed ‘a good left-right’ (punch), threatened with a turkey slap (hit in the face with a penis), and other personal threats,” she wrote. Byrne said the pile-on made her feel unsafe “both online and in real life”.“Just to make the point very clear, this torrent of harassment was a result of a billionaire having a tantrum over a nickname.”In a separate video posted on Instagram on Saturday, Portelli ...