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Britain's Got Talent runner-up Ronan Parke was "really upset" by the anonymous internet smear that surfaced days before the final of the ITV1 talent show.
The 12-year-old singer from Norfolk found himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons after allegations emerged online that he had been groomed for stardom before appearing on the show.
He told the Sun: "I was really upset by those nasty words written by an anonymous person because it was all a load of rubbish.
"It was a horrible thing for someone to do, attack me like that. I hope some people didn't stop voting for me because of it.
"I hate bullying - it's a terrible thing to do and I hope that people will see that it's wrong now."
Simon Cowell's firm Syco and Sony Music threatened to take legal action at the time to "prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations".
Ronan lost out in the final to 24-year-old singer Jai McDowall after a public vote.
