#Euro2012 – Twitter users report racist tweets following England’s defeat

25 Jun 2012

Twitter user @Lapwnage is facing an investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police Service following racial slurs directed at England’s Ashley Cole and Ashley Young on Sunday night.

Both Young and Cole missed penalty kicks in the England v Italy quarter final, which saw an end to England’s campaign for the European Football Championship.

While many English fans on Twitter expressed their upset at this loss, one user took to the microblogging site with comments that had little to do with either footballer’s sporting ability.

Other users alerted the Twitter accounts of West Midlands Police, Greater Manchester Police and London’s Metropolitan Police to the racist comments and each service has responded with requests that users make a formal complaint through either True Vision or the Metropolitan Police force’s online reporting service.

Undeterred by the backlash from fellow Twitter users, @Lapwnage later tweeted, “All I got to say is this was just a joke, you guys need to relax, police know I was kiddin around and they won’t bother me hopefully, cheers.”

West Midlands Police tweet

West Midlands Police responded via its Twitter account advising @Lapwnage that, joke or not, his comments could constitute a public order offence and the Metropolitan Police tweeted today that an investigation is underway.

Metropolitan Police tweet

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com