Today in TechRacist tweet to soccer player lands U.K. man in jail
There's an old saying that goes something like "if you can't say something nice about a person, don't say anything at all." If a Twitter user from the U.K. had abided by that, he might not have ended up in jail for saying some not-at-all-nice things about a popular soccer player.
The unnamed man sent two tweets containing racist comments to Carlton Cole, a player for West Ham United. The tweets have since been deleted, but were around long enough to get the man arrested by authorities on a public order offense. He's currently free on bail awaiting trial.
Cole responded publicly to the offensive tweets, stating that thinking he's bad at soccer is within anyone's rights — but that bringing his race, creed, or religion into question is a line that shouldn't be crossed.
He's not the only British athlete to have come under attack on Twitter, either. Last month, Olympic diver Tom Daley was mentioned in a tweet from a disgruntled fan who said Daley had let his deceased father down for not receiving a medal in synchronized diving. In that case, the teen who sent the tweet was arrested, then later released with a warning.
[Image credit: Hilton Teper]
This article was written by Randy Nelson and originally appeared on Tecca
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