Stephen Fry says quitting Twitter means he is 'free at last'

Stephen Fry has spoken out about his decision to quit Twitter, saying he "doesn't feel anything other than massive relief" and that he is "free at last".

Fry posted an explanation on his official website in a piece titled Too Many People Have Peed in the Pool.

He deleted his Twitter account following a backlash at the Baftas, in which the host described costume designer Jenny Beavan as coming "dressed as a bag lady".

The QI presenter, who deleted his account twice previously, said: "I like to believe I haven't slammed the door, much less stalked off in a huff throwing my toys out of the pram as I go or however one should phrase it. It's quite simple really: the room had started to smell. Really quite bad."

The actor and presenter reminisced about early days on Twitter and described its decline from "a secret bathing-pool in a magical glade" to a stagnant body of water that is "frothy with scum, clogged with weeds and littered with broken glass, sharp rocks and slimy rubbish".

He wrote that "just one turd in a reservoir is enough to persuade one not to drink from it. 99.9% of the water may be excrement free, but that doesn't help."

The end of his post explained his feeling of relief "like a boulder rolling off my chest".

He deleted his Twitter account on Monday after an expletive-filled rant on Sunday night to the "sanctimonious f******" who had complained on the social media site about his comment.

Fry first explained it was a joke between friends, and shared an image of himself and Beavan after the Baftas, captioning it: "Jenny Baglady Beavan and Stephen Outrageous Misogynist Swine Fry at the after party."

Some famous faces leapt to Fry's defence as others criticised his choice of words.

Radio 1 Scott Mills DJ wrote: "I thought Stephen Fry was an excellent host tonight. Dealing with the biggest stars in the world is scary. I find this. He is a natural."

Comedian Matt Lucas joked: "Stephen Fry Didn't you get the memo? No-one is allowed to do jokes anymore."

Fry was a popular commentator on the social media site, with more than 12 million followers before his account was deleted.

Technology writer Ian Morris said the influential wit's decision to remove himself from the site "couldn't have come at a worse time" for Twitter.

He said: "New figures show that the service has stalled somewhat and, while it's well-funded, without more growth it will become the next MySpace.

"What Fry represents as a loss to Twitter is kind of a big deal, another former champion of the service abandoning it at a time when it needs cheerleaders to get people involved."