West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen apologises for what he tweeted for while back, which had plenty of fans surprised as they went viral.
The ex-Hull City player has said sorry for using the ‘N-word’ in a now-deleted tweet that was published on the social media site back in 2012.
The West Ham midfielder was 15 at the time, with the tweet coming to light on Thursday evening and Bowen swiftly deleted the racist slur after seeing it gain attention.
He has since issued an apology for his use of the word with the Football Association understood to be looking into the matter and could hand him a punishment.
The tweet was sent in 2012, when the then 15-year-old Bowen was playing in the Hereford youth system, at a time he was young and I think we can all say we’ve done some dumb stuff in the past.
The tweet has since been deleted but read: “That one friend that thinks their black #***** Please.”
Bowen has issued an apology for the tweet on Friday morning, saying: “In 2012, when I was a 15-year-old kid, I posted an offensive and immature tweet.
“I wish to apologise unreservedly for the unacceptable content of that post, especially to all connected with West Ham United. This is not an example I wish to set and it certainly does not portray the values and principles that I hold.”
A spokesperson for the Premier League club added: “Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of West Ham United, and our zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination is embedded across the club.
“The club takes matters of this nature extremely seriously. In regard to the tweet from 2012, we have spoken to Jarrod and he is aware of the club’s unequivocal stance in this area.
“He fully understands the requirements and responsibility upon him to always act in line with the club’s values. This will be dealt with internally.”
I cannot believe Jarrod Bowen said that 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/i7wo6c74hX
— Fake Carlton (@_CarltonCole9) March 25, 2021
There have been similar incidents of players being punished for past indiscretions, Leicester’s Hamza Choudhury was fined £5,000 back in 2019 and sent on an education course by the FA for “hurtful and offensive” comments he posted online. The posts dated back to 2013 when he was a 15-year-old and he commented on race and gender.
Andre Gray was handed a four-match ban in 2016 when a homophobic tweet of his emerged from his past. Gray was 21 at the time of his posts in 2012 and was punished with a £25,000 fine alongside the suspension and he also attended an FA education course.
More recently, in December 2020, Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani was handed a three-match ban by the FA for using a racist term on Instagram.
Fans reacted as West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen apologises after his shocking tweets emerge…
@WhatDanThinks: Just seen the Jarrod Bowen tweet. As if clubs don’t have Social Media account auditors to clean up feeds
@bluenose199011: The tweet from Jarrod bowen all them years ago doesn’t look good, but just while on the subject this same word is used in so called music these days along with the talk of shooting & stabbing. Lets not just pick and chose when the word can be used.
@fabgeeza: People saying Jarrod Bowen is racist for THAT tweet are literal idiots.
@2percentMi1k: Difference between racism and racially insensitive and ignorant. You have to judge the intention and either way he is ashamed of the language used I’m sure
@westhamonline5: Let me put this simply to the people saying anyone ‘defending bowen’ is racist. If I met a 14 year old and heard him say any slur of any manner whether that’s racist or anything else derogatory, that doesn’t mean 8 years later if I can see he’s changed he still deserves hate. 👍
@RockyWhu: André Gray was banned for 4 games because his 6 tweets were homophobic from 2012. Bernardo Silva got a one match ban& fine for having a joke with Mendy which was viewed as being racist. I expect Bowen to get a fine knowing the FA. Then if he is banned… one game at the most.
@lewis_wall: Jarrod Bowen getting baited out by West Ham fans is the most West Ham thing ever, what a joke it was 7 years ago
@ScoutSoucek: What he did was wrong no matter what the age but it’s embarrassing that our own fans went through his old tweets to do this
@Russ2324: It’s a long time ago and he’s obviously grown up, but likely a ban coming – groans. But has manned up, so well done.
@conwhufc03: Well done to the dick heads on here, looking back at their own players bad tweets 👏👏👏
@whuraffa: state of our fanbase
@Stevieo13: Unfortunately like society we are not immune to having some pricks in our fan base
@BigHerbieG: There are some effing idiots around – and I’m not talking about Jarrod!
@AmbitiousAnang: This isn’t a good tweet but in fairness he was young whats unacceptable is abusing a player for something they did 9 years ago
@IronDragon87: The individuals who made this common knowledge purely for the sake of social media popularity need to take a long hard look at themselves. I hear they were so called West Ham fans? Dragging up dirt on one of our own players from when he was Schoolboy. Absolute embarrassment!
@WHUsamzini: Dunno what’s happened but what I’ve heard some so called fans are an embarrassment. Chin up @jarrodbowen_! We’re all behind you. ⚒
You must be logged in to post a comment Login