LEEDS UNDER FIRE OVER CARNEY TWEET
Club refuse to say sorry for mocking TV pundit
LeeDS owner andrea Radrizzani has condemned the abuse directed at Karen Carney by his fans — but stopped short of apologising for the club’s tweet which led to a torrent of sexist comments.
Following United’s 5-0 win at west Bromwich albion on Tuesday night, their official Twitter account shared a video of amazon Prime pundit Carney suggesting Marcelo Bielsa’s side ‘got promoted because of Covid’, with the club adding mocking emojis in their post.
That caused the former england midfielder to receive an avalanche of vitriol from Leeds supporters on social media, including some vile sexist abuse.
The club’s tweet has been roundly criticised, including by the women in Football group, who said: ‘ whether you agree with the comment or not, singling out and ridiculing an individual on an official club account is not what we’re here for. Karen Carney is a well-informed pundit. This tweet is inciteful and inappropriate. not a good look now, or at any time.’
Leeds contacted Carney yesterday and invited her to their training ground to carry out a TV report before their Fa Cup third-round clash with Crawley on Sunday week. But the club have refused to delete their tweet, which was defended by owner Radrizzani before the Italian explained his position last night.
Speaking to talkSPORT host Jim white, he said: ‘I’m very sorry Karen was abused on social media. I wanted to defend my club and our players from a comment, which I felt was harsh from Karen on air. Our tweet wasn’t offensive — simply stating that we won the league by 10 points.
‘we honestly didn’t expect such a reaction and we are sorry she experienced that. I respect her as a person and a pundit and I hope she understands that we just want to defend our club, we are a family. I hope the abuse stops and we can move forward and I hope Karen will be our guest at elland Road soon.’
In a statement, Leeds added: ‘Leeds United completely condemns any abuse received by Karen Carney on social media following last night’s Premier League game with west Bromwich albion. everyone at our club respects Karen greatly for all she has achieved in the game, as well as her work in the media and the charity work she undertakes.’
Rio Ferdinand called on his former club to delete the tweet while another ex- player, Danny Mills, warned clubs have a ‘responsibility’ and must ‘ be careful’. england and Chelsea forward Bethany england, a former team-mate of Carney’s, tweeted: ‘atrocious behaviour by your social platform. Cyber bullying a female pundit and opening her up to mass online abuse for doing her job and having her opinion.’ Carney, 33, is england’s second most capped woman with 144 appearances. She has previously opened up on her battle with depression and in 2018 she received death and rape threats on social media, which she described as ‘abhorrent’ and ‘ very upsetting’. The abuse was reported to police and prompted england manager Phil neville to contact Instagram on his player’s behalf. Carney retired after the 2019 world Cup and has since forged a career as a pundit. The clip of her commenting on Leeds’ win has been viewed more than five million times. She said: ‘They outrun everyone and credit to them. My only concern would be — will they blow up at the end of the season? we saw that the last couple of seasons. I actually think they got promoted because of Covid, in terms of it gave them a bit of respite. I don’t know whether they would have got up if they didn’t have that break.’