Stephen Bunting broke down in tears during an emotional press conference following his second round win at the PDC World Championship on Saturday.
Bunting swept aside Indian qualifier Nitin Kumar 3-0 to book his place in the post-Christmas action at Alexandra Palace, but was visibly upset during his post-match interview.
But the world No.4 has faced backlash across the past week after describing himself as “the people’s champion”, following his first round win against Sebastian Bialecki.
“I look at social media and I’ve had some stick,” said Bunting. “I made a comment in in the media saying I was the people’s champion but that was literally a comment that was from what Sky have said, what the PDC have said, it wasn’t me saying I’m the people’s champion.
“I was just talking about what was said and yeah I’ve had a lot of stick about that. Listen, I’m not the people’s champion, I turn up I’ll try my best to win any game, I’ll give 110%.
“The fans have been unbelievable, I feel a presence. I feel the support online, but sometimes you can look too much at social media and yeah, there’s been quite a few negatives.
“I’ve had quite a few emails as well but I need to rise above that. People online are fickle. There’s a lot of negativity.
“You see the crowd in there tonight, they’re proper dart fans. They know what I’m about.”