Amanda Knox faces backlash over studying abroad tweet
Ali Condon
Featured Image Credit: Netflix/WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Amanda Knox is getting major backlash after replying to a university student's article about studying abroad.
Knox, 34, who now works as a journalist, retweeted an article this week, written by NYU student Stacia Datskovska, who claims she 'hated every aspect' of her semester abroad.
Amanda, of course, has had her own controversial history with studying abroad, after a visit to Perugia, Italy in 2007 saw her wrongfully convicted of murdering her housemate Meredith Kercher.
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Amanda and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito spent four years in an Italian prison before finally being acquitted of killing Meredith.
In what appeared to be a pretty poorly-judged attempt at humour, Amanda shared Datskovska's studying abroad article to Twitter on Tuesday (14 March) and wrote: "Girl, what are you talking about? Studying abroad is awesome!"
At the time of writing, Amanda's tweet has 7.7 million views, over 3,000 retweets and more than 1,000 replies.
Some people really went for Amanda's tweet, and praised her in the replies for being able to make light of her situation.
"You have won the internet for the day, Amanda. You can rest easy," wrote reporter Benjamin Ryan.
"You win best tweet - Twitter may retire now," agreed Dr Lora Shahine.
"Truly spectacular tweet," added NY Times columnist David French.
Even Merriam-Webster, yes, the dictionary, shared a link to their definition of the word 'spit take'.
But others were horrified at Knox's tweet, and couldn't believe that she was poking fun at such a traumatic incident.
"I’m sure the loved ones of the 21-year-old who was brutally murdered while studying abroad will find your joke hilarious," one person sarcastically commented.
"It’s funny because my ‘friend’ was brutally murdered. Do you get the joke?," another scathing reply read.
And a third earnestly wrote to Amanda: "I think this is seriously misjudged on your part and will cause distress to those who loved your roommate, who was murdered. I studied abroad and agree it can be hugely fulfilling but if my friend had been killed, I would be traumatised."
While studying abroad, Amanda had shared an apartment with Kercher, an exchange student from the UK.
On 1 November, 2007, Kercher was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in their shared home.
After eight years on trial and four years behind bars, Amanda and her partner were finally acquitted in 2015.
Rudy Guede was eventually found guilty of Kercher's murder and sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
In November 2021, after 13 years of his sentence, Guede was freed.