Anton Ferdinand racially abused on social media with monkey and banana emojis after promoting anti-racism documentary where he opens up on alleged abuse by John Terry in 2011
- Anton Ferdinand has been targeted with racist abuse on his social media page
- He put out a tweet promoting his upcoming anti-racism documentary on BBC
- One anonymous user sent monkey faces and a banana emoji by way of response
- Ferdinand opens up in the documentary on alleged abuse by John Terry in 2011
Anton Ferdinand has been subjected to racist abuse on social media in response to promoting his upcoming anti-racism documentary.
The former QPR and West Ham defender posted a clip on his Twitter page for the BBC documentary titled ‘Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me‘.
Ferdinand addresses the alleged racist abuse by John Terry in 2011 for the first time before widening the debate to explore the deeper issues of racism in football to this day.
Anton Ferdinand (pictured playing for Southend United in 2017) has been subjected to racially abusive messages on social media after he promoted his upcoming anti-racism documentary
John Terry (third left) was alleged to have called Ferdinand (far left) ‘a f***ing black c***’ back in 2011. Ferdinand reveals that he embraced Terry afterwards having been oblivious
The 35-year-old received hundreds of replies to the clip and one reply, which appears to be from an anonymous account, simply included monkey and banana emojis.
The tweet has been reported but remains visible at the time of writing.
The documentary, which is to be broadcast on Monday November 30, will see Ferdinand open up on his emotions around the infamous clash with Terry nine years ago at QPR’s Loftus Road stadium.
Terry was alleged to have used a racial slur against Ferdinand when Chelsea lost to QPR in October 2011. He was later found not guilty following a court trial but for Ferdinand his big regret rests on not speaking out.
Ferdinand has addressed the incident in 2011 in a BBC documentary Football, Racism and me
The 35-year-old has promoted the documentary, which touches on his emotions back in 2011
The court did hear that Terry said the words but Terry’s defence rested on his claim that he thought Ferdinand had accused him of saying the words ‘f***ing black c***’ and that he had merely repeated them while denying he had said them first.
Terry was found not guilty in court but an investigation by the Football Association concluded with a four-game ban and a £220,000 fine.
Ferdinand revealed he embraced Terry after the match having been unaware of any alleged remark. Now, his anguish at not speaking out for years is evident in the production as he explores Kick It Out’s findings that in the 2019-20 season, there was a 53 per cent increase in reported racial abuse in professional football.
The racism subjected to Ferdinand in response to a clip of the documentary follows repeated calls for social networking sites to take a harder line on eradicating abuse from their platforms.
Earlier in the week, Arsenal and Leeds both released statements condemning the ‘vile abuse’ online directed at Nicolas Pepe and Ezgjan Alioski following the clubs’ 0-0 draw on Sunday.
The Gunners’ record signing was the target of online racist abuse following his sending off at Elland Road for headbutting Alioski early on in the second half.
Abuse aimed at Ferdinand comes in a week where Shaun Wright-Phillips exposed the racism directed at Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe after he was sent off for a headbutt against Leeds
Former England and Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips posted a screenshot of some of the abuse subsequently aimed at Pepe – which included him being called a ‘n*****’ on several occasions – on Twitter and said: ‘And Twitter say they are protecting people from racial abuse! When is it enough and when will it stop?!?’.
An Arsenal club statement read: ‘We utterly condemn the vile abuse directed at Nicolas Pepe and Ezgjan Alioski on social media following our match against Leeds.
‘This is completely unacceptable and we will be working with the police and authorities to do everything we can to trace and prosecute the culprits.’
Leeds were equally as strong in their statement, writing: ‘The vile abuse directed at Ezgjan Alioski and Nicolas Pepe on social media after yesterday’s game with Arsenal will not be tolerated by Leeds United. We will work closely with the police and the footballing authorities to ensure those responsible are identified and punished.’