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Poll: Should sports stars be punished for what they say on Twitter?

A number of sports stars have faced fines and suspensions from sporting authorities for comments made on Twitter but should they?

YESTERDAY A GREEK athlete was expelled from the country’s Olympic team after she made a derogatory remark about African immigrants on Twitter.

Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was sent home by the Hellenic Olympic Committee after she wrote on Twitter “with so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food ”. She later apologised but the athlete is the latest sports star to be punished for remarks on Twitter. Also this week the Arsenal footballer Emmanuel Frimpong has been charged with improper conduct by the English FA after a hostile exchange with a rival Tottenham fan.

In other cases former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel was fined for tweeting a photoshopped picture of a referee implying that the official was biased while earlier this year Coventry City player Gary Deegan was suspended by the club for posting a pro-IRA slogan on Twitter. Last month in the US NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire was fined $50,000 after homophobic slurs aimed at a fan in a direct message.

So today we want to know: Do you think sports stars should be punished by sporting authorities for what they say on Twitter?


Poll Results:

No (529)
Yes (351)
Don't know (262)

Read: Greece Olympian Papachristou expelled for ‘racist Tweet’

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33 Comments
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    Mute Barry
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:30 AM

    She said something very stupid, its a very public communication tool so people need to be far more careful about what they say on it

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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:48 AM

    Stupid comments are not a crime yet she is being punished. She tried made a joke of the fact there were many Africans around her and west Nile mosquitos and as they bite hopefully they eat their local food and leave her alone. Not great but nothing offensive. Parse the young woman’s comments and I’m sure you’ll find it offence eventually on some level but a “hello” is also offence to some people I must deal with daily.
    Some folk just crave crying victim. If more than 5 out of 10 Africans found her comment offence then well enough but this is white people shooting white people over what they fear may be offence to another race.

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    Mute Barry
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:55 AM

    Derek, as pointed out below had she said the comment on TV their would have been backlash and rightly so.

    Problem is she said it on a communication tool which has a far far bigger audience then any national tv station has, the sooner people realise its a WORLDWIDE PUBLIC tool then better.

    20
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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:29 AM

    PC bullsh*t ruined this girls chances of representing her country which is a shame. Her comment, or joke may not be very funny but by no means it was racist or derogatory.
    If I tweet I prefer dairy milk over chocolate milk does that make me racist now and result in me being fired?
    PC brigade need to be reined in and people need not fear them because just like the dark, its our own fear of it is what empowers it.

    54
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    Mute Richard Day
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:44 AM

    Think you’ll find it was more to do with her political leanings and who she advocated via Twitter than the joke. The joke was just the excuse for the authorities to ban her. Not saying it was the right thing to do.

    14
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    Mute Chris Furlong
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    Jul 26th 2012, 11:50 AM

    There’s nothing like comparing like with like eh Derek? And comparing a choice between dark and milk chocolate with a statement basically saying ‘there’s too many Africans in the country’ is certainly not like for like.

    I have yet to come across anyone who comes out with statements about “there are too many xxxxxx in this country” or the classic “I’m no racist, but…..” who is not a racist (whether that be with a small or large ‘R’).

    Serves her right in my book.

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    Mute Evan Murphy
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    Jul 26th 2012, 12:20 PM

    Derek if you read your first sentence again, I think you’ll find she was representing her country (yes, even on twitter). That’s why she was expelled. It’s sad but it’s true.

    15
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    Mute Trevor Nolan
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:42 AM

    If Papachristou had said this live on TV in a post-race interview she would have been punished and vilified in the media, and rightly so! People need to learn that publishing opinions on twitter is real and carries the same weight as if you went live on TV or radio and said them. You can’t just say whatever you like online and expect no backlash. Sure, there’s free speech and everyone has the right to voice an opinion, but if that opinion is racist, libellous or abusive then be prepared to be reprimanded.

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    Mute Peter
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:45 AM

    Even if speech is racist preventing it is tyrannical and against the freedom of speech, because at the end of the day the sports star can be proven wrong

    17
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    Mute Trevor Nolan
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:49 AM

    Nobody is preventing free speech… Say what you like! Just be prepared to be punished if what you say is racist, abusive, libellous or insulting.

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    Mute Aaron
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    Jul 26th 2012, 1:59 PM

    If she’d made racist comments in a post race interview then it would have been while she was representing her country and under the jurisdiction of the sporting body that she represents so of course they should have the power to punish her. But it wasn’t. The comment, which wasn’t even remotely racist, was made through a PERSONAL forum. Peoples thoughts, comments, jokes etc when posted on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else in a personal capacity should not be used to prevent someone from taking part in sport!

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    Mute Auntie Dote
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    Jul 26th 2012, 6:14 PM

    Peter, anyone is free to provide themselves with a platform from which to speak freely. Their right to speak freely is not abridged if another organisation or body declines to provide them with a free platform for ideas they find repugnant. In this case, it is not so much she being “punished” – there is no jail sentence here. Instead it is a sporting body declining to provide a platform, or implicit support for attitudes which completely contradict its ethos.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Jul 26th 2012, 11:00 AM

    The tendency of people to go “It’s PC gone mad”, when they don’t agree with something, makes this site a little bit more like the Daily Telegraph with every passing day.

    28
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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 26th 2012, 11:15 AM

    Not everyone looks for offence in every thing in life. Those that do need to relax and realise they are usually stating offence from their own point of view and not always for those they claim to be a voice for. As people are beginning to wake up to as they realise it’s mostly a one way system and very one deminsional

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    Mute PeeedOff
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:37 AM

    Once more the liberal PC Brigade are on the bandwagon. It’s getting totally ridiculous, everything anyone says seems to be an insult these days. These PC liberalist lunatics need to get out more…!!!

    27
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    Mute JayK
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    Jul 26th 2012, 2:30 PM

    “Wow, lots of Irish around London, hope we don’t have another famine! Vote for the BNP!!”

    What a larf.

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    Mute Bernard Mulvany
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:45 AM

    I’ve lived in oz for a long time and if I was to take offence at every “paddy” joke or comment that was made I wouldn’t leave the house, this pc crap is really starting to wear thin.

    26
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    Mute Damocles
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:35 AM

    Twitter is just people talking, so we are told. So why should people be treated any differently to if they’d said this sort of thing in public?

    If she’d have had the same punishment for saying this in public then she got the right punishment for tweeting this in public.

    25
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    Mute Barbara Preston
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:57 AM

    This is nothing to do with being ‘PC’. It is a straightforward matter of yet another high profile person making racist/slanderous/libellous comments on a public forum. Posting on Twitter or other social media is the same as being quoted in an article, or writing a letter to a newspaper. Making throwaway remarks which can be read and shared by millions is something which Tweeters need to learn to curb.

    Sports stars (or any other people with lots of followers) have to behave publicly in such a way that they do not bring their profession, or organisations with which they are associated, into disrepute. If comments made on Twitter are in breach of any organisation’s code of conduct, then appropriate steps have to be taken – simple as that.

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    Mute John Brace
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    Jul 27th 2012, 1:51 AM

    I tried writing a newspaper comment online. However I got suspended from a political party on the basis of not the comment I wrote, but the comment written before it (by someone else), the article and the other fourteen or so comments.

    Yet it took 14 weeks to sort out and then the political party had to punish me because one of their politicians had lied (and within a short time had a stroke which just made them feel sorry for her). Personally I felt she was a nicer person after the stroke as it made her more truthful.

    The whole “the truth is libellous” thing is misused by those in power against the media. Yet the libel laws aren’y really meant for the internet age and need reform.

    It’s hard when people hold you personally responsible not just for what you write online but the rest of humanity too and punish you for it.

    Personally I think if people want to be racist and make fools of themselves online, it’s their own reputation they’re destroying. There is a fine line between a personal opinion and holding people as spokespersons for whatever organisation they are involved in.

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    Mute Alan Quinn
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:45 AM

    footballers should be encouraged to use twitter. hahaha. put a smile on my face. idiots.

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    Mute juliana
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:59 AM

    P.C correctness gone crazy!If this had been said about the Americans and Irish or the Aussies and the Irish then there would have been not hype!It’s totally hypocritical that racism is so one dimensional!

    16
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    Mute Brian Daly
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:57 AM

    Of course they should but there should be a policy of place. But for most people it’s common sense – would you say they same things at a press conference. If not, don’t say it on Twitter.

    12
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    Mute Rowan Murphy
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    Jul 26th 2012, 11:41 AM

    It was a silly remark. It didn’t deserve having her Olympic ticket taken off her. The punishment outweighing the crime.

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    Mute dee
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:46 AM

    implying that a referee is biased should not be a punishable offence – who doesn’t bitch about their collegues? The question is who is stupid enough to put it down in writing/pictures?

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    Mute My EL531W
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    Jul 26th 2012, 2:06 PM

    When someone starts talking about the “PC brigade” and “political correctness gone mad” this is what I visualise:

    http://tinyurl.com/crysvm8

    When it comes to remarks at others expense I always look at intent; Do they actually dislike the group they are joking about or is it just in good fun so that the people who are the butt of the joke are expected to laugh along too.

    A good example was the former British Olympian’s joke on TV recently when he said that a misspelled tattoo was probably done by an Irishman. That’s not funny and it’s offensive because it implies Irish people are stupid, which obviously isn’t true, and harkens back to a past when such jokes were common and meant in a more nasty way. Then there’s this Jack Dee joke: When it comes to big drinking days the English have St. Georges Day, the Scottish have St. Andrews day and the Irish have pay day. Although it plays on what many would regard as a negative stereotype it still has a kernel of truth in it but is exaggerated for effect. While some Irish people might still find it offensive I don’t think the majority would as we recognise there’ll no ill intent behind it.

    The Greek Olympian’s joke wasn’t that bad but when you’re an athlete representing a country or a club you’re held to a higher standard as you represent your country/club at all times when you speak in public. If you do not represent them well then you won’t represent them for long.

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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 26th 2012, 3:36 PM

    Lets be brutally honest shall we? she said Africans – hence immediately racist. Jack Dee and that British Boxers comments don’t result in them losing their jobs or positions even though they were both far more offensive, and clearly insulting to a particular nationality (us). But its all cool because their jokes didn’t mention black people or Africans. We call their jokes just jokes, even when they are not but this woman’s jokes are somehow representative of her country, classed as insulting and must be ruined for it. Double standards I think.
    https://twitter.com/#!/search/Voula%20Papachristou

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    Mute My EL531W
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    Jul 26th 2012, 6:00 PM

    Jack Dee’s joke wasn’t offensive to me and I’d say most Irish people wouldn’t find it offensive as they’d recognise it as a joke without any underlying hate or hostility. I find it ironic that Mr. “political correctness gone mad” says it’s offensive. That ‘British Boxer ‘ was actually a decathlete and he apparently is an ambassador to the 2012 Olympics. He was forced to apologise however I didn’t hear about any punishment. But as far as I know he doesn’t have any history of bigotry or racism and he just said something stupid whereas Voula Papachristou openly supported Golden Dawn by re-tweeting messages and linking to youtube videos that promote their message. In that context it’s easy to see how a stupid joke like the one she made could be taken far more seriously as it seems pretty clear she is actually racist.

    As for how she’s only being punished because the “joke” was about Africans, here’s Tommy Tiernan making a joke that’s somewhat at African’s expense:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5WTpUNi5fs&feature=related

    But again it’s difficult to see any underlying hate or hostility in it (except maybe religion in general but that’s OK because that’s only attacking an idea).

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    Mute censored
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    Jul 26th 2012, 11:02 PM

    That’s not true. We drink every day.

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    Mute Hakuin Murphy
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    Jul 26th 2012, 1:03 PM

    I heard that France has been having terrible weather most of this summer. With so many english people living in Provence, though, they should be used to it.
    Should I turn myself in now or are the racism police already on their way…..

    6
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    Mute Derek
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    Jul 26th 2012, 1:46 PM

    Plenty here will gladly drive you to the station!!

    Sorry that probably falls under slanderous, someone of higher righteous morality better take me away also!

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    Mute Barry Mulrooney
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    Jul 26th 2012, 10:56 AM

    wheres the entertainment button did I miss it? oh wait this is it…………

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    Mute Donny
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    Jul 27th 2012, 1:06 AM

    21st century Western culture at it’s height. Where opinions and political leanings can bar one from competing in athletic games. Heaven forbid a fish swims against the current in Europe any longer. You don’t have to like what she said but for the sake of freedom of speech and association one ought to defend her rights to say it.

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