Amanda Knox is slammed for calling her study abroad 'awesome'
‘Must be incredibly painful for Meredith’s family:’ Amanda Knox is slammed for tweet mocking journalist who hated studying abroad in Italy by crowing that her notorious experience of the country was ‘awesome’
- Knox, 35, sarcastically said that studying abroad is ‘awesome’ but the joke was not well received – considering her roommate Meredith Kercher was murdered
Notorious exchange student Amanda Knox faced intense scrutiny for mocking a journalist who said she hated studying abroad – after she sarcastically commented that her program was ‘awesome’ despite her roommate being murdered.
Knox, 35, commented on the essay by young writer Stacia Datskovska – who was sharing her experiences as a New Yorker studying in Florence – writing: ‘Girl, what are you talking about? Studying abroad is awesome!’
She made international headlines at the age of 20 after she was accused of killing her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007, while the pair studied abroad in Italy. She spent four years in an Italian prison before eventually being acquitted.
Her response to the story, however, was met with fierce criticism as many slammed her for being ‘tasteless’ – and accused her of making light of the fact that Kercher was brutally murdered while they were in Perugia together.
Amanda Knox at a murder trial session in Perugia April 18, 2009. She was accused of killing her British study abroad roommate. But 15 years later, she has now pulled fun at her experience – saying that studying abroad is ‘awesome’
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death with her throat slashed in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia
One person wrote: ‘Unbelievably tasteless,’ while another added: ‘You can believe Amanda is innocent and still think the joke is tasteless as f**k given that there is a dead woman at the heart of it.’
A third said: ‘Not funny. Must be incredibly painful for Meredith’s family.’
While another user online slammed her for her response: ‘Amanda Knox might not be guilty, but the way she’s behaved is disgusting.’
Another critic quipped: ‘So you loved studying abroad, was that up to the moment your roommate was murdered, or was that not relevant.’
Despite many seeing the tweet as outrageous, there were some online who found Knox’s response hilarious considering her own experience locked inside an Italian prison before being exonerated.
Users called her tweet ‘outstanding’ and said that she ‘won the internet’ with her answer – as she seemingly proved to the young journalist, complaining about Florence, that things could indeed be worse, as they were for Knox.
Amanda Knox, center, is escorted to the Perugia court, Italy, September 2021
Amanda Knox is led away from Perugia’s Court of Appeal by police officers after the first session of her appeal against her murder conviction on November 24, 2010
But the praise was also clapped down by others: ‘I don’t think I could make this joke if my roommate was murdered, but enjoy the internet claps I guess.’
The Twitter backlash stemmed from young writer Datskovska’s post – who chronicled her own experience abroad. She wrote that although she had high hopes for her semester in Florence, she hated her seven roommates, ‘hostile’ locals and her online internship.
She said she ‘grew to despise the sights, hated the people, and couldn’t wait to get back home to my campus in New York.’
Datskovska’s essay elicited a whole range of reactions – some people seemed to empathize with her struggles while others accused her of being entitled for failing to enjoy the luxuries of studying abroad.
Knox, among many others, started pointing out that Datskovska’s story showed that the student had little self-awareness.
Journalism and international relations student Datskovska described how she had high hopes before embarking on her trip and looked forward to living minutes away from the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
‘But when my semester in Florence came to an end, I grew to despise the sights, hated the people, and couldn’t wait to get back home to my campus in New York,’ she wrote.
Not only was she unable to enjoy the city because she was working to keep her GPA up, Datskovska was also enrolled on an online internship, which she said took most of her spare time.
Journalism and international relations student Stacia Datskovska described in an essay published by Insider how she had a terrible time studying abroad in Florence
The British student was murdered in 2007
Making matters worse for the student was that her peers were constantly making weekend visits to places like Amsterdam and Ibiza, which she described as ‘a vain form of escapism’.
Instead, she wanted to plan her life after graduation and embark on more thoughtful trips. Therefore, she traveled alone to Nice, Switzerland, London, Malta and Dubai.
Knox’s time studying abroad was also marred back when she was just 20-years-old. She was charged with the 2007 killing of Kercher but due to a lack of evidence, later acquitted.
Leeds University student Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death with her throat slashed in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia.
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