Homelessness charity issues statement on ‘exploitation’ of Sheffield Keeley after her death

A Sheffield homeless charity has spoken out about how a 34-year-old woman they had worked with was “exploited for likes”, following her death yesterday.

Keeley Thornton – who had become known as “Sheffield Keeley” from videos posted of her singing on social media which amassed more than 1.6 billion views – died in hospital after being found conscious on Arundel Gate on Tuesday evening.

The Archer Project said in a blog post on Thursday that Keeley told them she had often been given money or alcohol to perform for cameras.

The post said: “Just for likes, that’s what it comes down to. They exploited her just for likes. When we say exploited, that’s what we mean. It wasn’t a casual filming of someone you come across, which many think is bad enough. No, she was sought out, she told us she was given money to be on social media, to swim in fountains in the middle of winter or dance in an inebriated state like a performing clown or whatever.

“Some will say they didn’t know. Come on, let’s be real, it was hard to not know. Her alcoholism was the attraction, her fuelled with drink and what she would do when drunk, that was the sought after video, JUST FOR LIKES!”

The post also explained police, city centre management and other public and voluntary sector organisations were aware of the problem, and there was a concerted effort to help Keeley.

She was regularly in contact with the Archer Project, and the post said she saw workers that day, hugging one of them before she left.

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The charity continued by saying: “In the coming weeks, as a city, we will note the failings we are aware of in our depleted and stretched system. But depletion can’t be an excuse. One thing we are all aware of is our collected inability to prevent her being used by social media posters to improve their online presence.”

In its final paragraph, the post’s author reminded readers to think of Keeley’s family, and also hit out at those who posted videos of her to social media: “There is a lot of unhappy, hurt, upset and angry people who worked closely with her in homeless and other agencies today. We will take time to think through what it is we might have done differently to prevent this tragedy.

“What we do know is that voyeuristic social media gurus worked against those of us who were supporting her. They made her life worse. Today we will mourn, we will think of her and her family and the hurt they will be feeling.”

Featured image via @shanzy205 on TikTok