Sheffield Instagram star behind viral Dianne & Co videos hits back over 'hateful' comments

Hairdresser Keelan Justice, who runs the Lavo salon in Heeley, has racked up millions of views as his comic alter-ego Dianne, a single mum from Parson Cross, earning himself lucrative sponsorship deals.

But despite the legions of fans following him as Dianne & Co on Facebook and whatstheteakeekee on Tiktok and Instagram, he is not immune to the vile abuse which is sadly commonplace on social media.

When one hater commented ‘it’s a bloke dressed in women’s clothes’, accompanied by a string of laughing face emojis, he felt moved to respond.

"I genuinely feel so sorry for them having you for a mother,” he replied, adding four vomiting emojis.

‘Comic videos kept me going through Covid and made daughter’s day’

That didn’t stop the troll, who fired back using a homophobic slur and adding ‘don’t mention my kids – at least mine won’t be growing up wearing makeup and wearing dresses’.

Keelan shared the exchange, which sparked disgust among his followers, generating some 2,200 comments full of support for him and condemnation for the woman behind the abuse.

One fan wrote: “You made my daughter’s birthday a beautiful one by your message. When someone has terminal cancer it’s the small things that matter. You don’t know her and you made her smile and laugh and feel loved!

"You are amazing, you make so many laugh, so please ignore the bigoted women, you will always be better than that.”

Another commented: “My god, imagine being that bitter, hateful and narrow-minded. Her poor kids.”

And a third person wrote: “What a narrow-minded woman. I feel sorry for her children. If it wasn't for Dianne & Co keeping me going through Covid I don't know what I would have done. Keep being you, you’re a treasure.”

Keelan has previously told how the phenomenon started by chance when he began messing around with a synthetic blonde hair piece one day and came up with the character of Dianne.

He described her as an affectionate caricature of people in his life and insisted he was ‘not taking the piss out of anyone’ and would hate for anybody to take offence.