THE teen star of the much-hated Frosties TV ad last night emerged from hiding to defy online death threats.
Sven, 15, was targeted by net nutters after appearing alongside cartoon tiger Tony in the Kellogg’s promotion.
In it, he sings a repetitive jingle as he leads a troop of kids, Pied Piper-style, around a town while performing a strange dance.
Last night the young South African actor, whose surname we are concealing to protect his safety, stormed: “Can’t these fools distinguish between me and a character in an ad?”
We tracked Sven to his Johannesburg hideaway after spoof clips of him became a big hit online. There were even rumours he killed himself because of abuse about the ad.
Surfers issued death threats against him after it first aired four months ago. One poster ranted: “He’s a revolting, despicable child, he deserves to die.” A lads’ magazine even printed a picture of the youngster with rifle-sight crosshairs on his forehead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bLndLiDy5w
Sven’s father Eddy told last night of his shock after learning of the hate-filled bile. He said: “Your first instinct is to protect your child — especially from people who hate him so much without even knowing him.”
Sven has defied his bitter cyber-critics — by focusing on carving out a career as a gymnast.
The teenager, who attends a posh private school and lives in an upmarket part of town, spends 18 hours a week honing his skills on vaulting horses and climbing rings. His efforts have earned him a place in his home nation’s elite Olympic development programme. And Sven hopes to use cash from future acting jobs to help him fund trips worldwide as he pursues his sporting dream.
The notorious ad was filmed in South Africa in February and Sven confessed: “If you think watching the ad was annoying you should have tried working on it. It was so irritating hearing the jingle over and over. After five days I was going up the wall. But I switched off how I felt about it and got on with how the director was asking me to portray the character. I did that to the best of my ability.”
The actor was tipped off about the online backlash by a pal who saw the postings. The commercial has never even been screened on South African telly.
Sven recalled: “I had a look on the net and was so surprised. Why would people want to humiliate someone they don’t even know? It’s not who I really am. I was given a character to portray and that’s what I did. One person said you should blame the director, or the scriptwriter. I liked that comment. I’m not going to go out and stab myself or commit suicide because of things people are saying.”
Kellogg’s, who have tried to block all media interviews with Sven, defended the controversial commercial.
A spokesman claimed: "The vast majority of consumers like the ad. It’s been a great success from our point of view.”
And Sven’s favourite cereal? You’ve got it . . . Coco Pops.