Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, has admitted to being “emotionally disturbed” by the hashtag #RIPTwitter in an interview with news.com Australia.

The hashtag, which surfaced in February, was a response to a series of controversies surrounding the platform, including their planned changes to user experience and timelines, as well as showing hostility to the site’s conservative voices, one being Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos after “de-verifying” his account.

However, Dorsey defended his decisions, arguing that “you take a long-term view of we’re making this better and we know it’s better and we have to continue to serve the people who love us and this really comes from a good place and not a negative place.”

He insists that, despite the initial outcry, Twitter’s new timeline “is working.”

“I think any change is hard for people but we’re going to do it in a way that makes Twitter better, [but] we found a lot of people turning it on and we haven’t found a lot of people turning it off,” he said.

Dorsey also discussed Twitter’s plans to start streaming NFL games and their ambitions to diversify into other sports.

“There’s a new dimension to TV that we can bring to bear which is interactivity and a conversation around it and that conversation is really meaningful,” he said.

“We’re certainly looking for opportunities to look at more sports and more events and bring them into Twitter,” he added.

You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at ben@yiannopoulos.net