It's all fun and games 'til someone gets racist on Twitter...

[renee shah]

Özil reports Twitter user for racial abuse

PEPE ÍÑIGUEZ. Hamburg 06/19/2012

Real Madrid's German international Mesut Özil has reported the owner of a Twitter account for racial abuse, after the player was accused of not being German, according to the Bild newspaper.

The player's lawyer - Sascha Beumer – decided to take legal action after an unknown Twitter user posted messages using a private account during the Denmark-Germany game, stating that the player was not German and criticising his surname – which is of Muslim descent.

"Özil isn't German! A piece of paper doesn't change your origins", were the unknown user’s words in their first message, then adding that nobody with a non-German name should play in the German team.

Soon after, amid the protests - both online and offline -, Twitter decided to block the user's account from where the racist comments came from.

The Real Madrid player's father and agent - Mustafa Özil – totally agreed with his son's decision to report the incident: "it's important to say that you can't get away with saying things like that. This person has overstepped the mark".

Özil – who has played in all three of Germany's games so far in the 2012 Euros – was born in Gelsenkirchen (West Germany), while his parents come from Turkey. The Real Madrid player has always defended his German status.

Comments

[renee shah (from livejournal.com)]

I think they just wanted it taken off Twitter. Twitter is a private company and can close accounts as they choose.

Wasn't a guy in the UK sued for a racist Tweet against a footballer not so long ago? Other countries have laws about incitement to racial hatred, etc.

[charliechaz.livejournal.com]

Okay that makes total sense...but the part about legal action...I improperly assumed it meant legal action above and beyond deleting the account. Thanks for the clarification...
Meanwhile it's totally cool that John Terry run around playing for England in an international tournament (complete with ten words respect sewn onto his jersey) while awaiting charges of racial abuse. You know it's bad when twitter can respond quicker than the BFA.

OT: why can JT go more than 12 months without opening his mouth or dropping his pants in the wrong home?

[sashatwen.livejournal.com]

This makes a lot more sense and now that I think about it, was most likely falsely reported in the articles I've read.