Liverpool – England’s Liverpool Football Club has deleted a tweet
wishing its Jewish supporters a happy new year after the team’s Twitter feed
was inundated with antisemitic responses.
On Friday, the Premier League club tweeted “Liverpool FC would like to
wish all our Jewish supporters around the world a happy new year.
#RoshHashanah,” in honor of the Jewish High Holy Day.
Kick It Out, soccer’s equality and inclusion organization, contacted the
club’s officials after receiving a number of complaints, according to The
Guardian. However, Liverpool FC claims the tweet was deleted independent of any
advice from Kick It Out.
A club spokesperson said: “Due to a number of offensive comments that
were attached to a tweet on the official LFC twitter account, the tweet and
comments have since been removed from the account.”
A spokesperson for Kick It Out said: “It is encouraging that a football
club recognizes these holidays and religious landmarks – Liverpool did the same
for Ramadan – but extremely sad when a club does that in a proactive manner and
gets these responses. Premier League clubs appeal to supporters around the
world and it would have been nice for Liverpool’s Jewish supporters to see this
message from their club, that’s the bigger issue. It should be welcomed that
clubs are doing this is in a proactive manner.”
Liverpool has recently faced an additional Twitter-related controversy,
after star Italian striker Mario Balotelli received a torrent of racist tweets
after poking fun at the struggling Manchester United club.
