Karen Carney deleted her Twitter account after remarks she made in her role as a TV researcher about Leeds United were ridiculed by the club’s official account and led to waves of sexual abuse.
The online attack of the former England international, who has played for her country 144 times, is understood to have increased every day since Leeds shared a clip of Carney’s comment with their 660,000 fans Tuesday night.
Why Did She Delete Her Account?
With the harassment getting worse, according to Carney’s friends, and most of the sexist remarks, she chose to delete her account on Friday. She will continue to work on television and radio this weekend as a Premier League commentator.
Carney is not the first prominent woman to be removed from social networking sites. And she is not the only professional footballer. Last week Arsenal goalkeeper Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson deleted his Twitter account after his mistake in a Carabao Cup match against Manchester City made him a target of his fans.
It is the central role that Leeds have played in this incident, however, that is different and has outraged many within football.
Carney’s Comments
Speaking after Leeds ‘5-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night, Carney commented on Leeds’ strong style of play and suggested that it could cause fatigue as the season progressed. “I actually think they got promoted [last season] because of Covid, in terms of it gave them a bit of respite,” she said.
Taking an 18-second clip of Carney’s remarks from the Amazon Prime Video broadcast, Leeds’s social media team then posted it on Twitter. They added the caption: “‘Promoted because of Covid’ Won the league by 10 points”. They also tagged Amazon on their message, but Carney’s face was the central image.
The Reactions
The tweet, quickly identified as the one that could lead to the senseless pouring on Carney’s side, was immediately criticized. Some of the women in the game called out to Leeds, including Carney’s fellow international Beth England: “Atrocious behavior by your social platform,” England wrote. “Cyberbullying a female pundit and opening her up to mass online abuse for DOING HER JOB AND HAVING HER OPINION.”
Leeds did not delete the tweet. Instead, the group’s owner, Andrea Radrizzani, acknowledged its feelings. “I take responsibility for the Club tweet,” he wrote on Twitter. “I consider that comment completely unnecessary and disrespectful to our Club and particularly to the fantastic hard work of our players and coaches whom were understanding on the pitch for the last two championship seasons by all stats.”
Radrizzani was backed by the former Leeds players, and Leeds fans point out that Carney was not the first professional to be criticized by the club’s social media, with goals in men’s games including former Aston Villa player Gabriel Agbonlahor and Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder.
Carney’s abuse was undeniable. In a public message seen by the Guardian, Carney was called “stupid”, “a silly bitch” and “twat of the week” and was told to “go back to the kitchen”, or “put your mic down and find yourself at home with laundry and ironing clothes”. Other users wrote they were “sick of this shit women pundits”, while another said: “Women’s lives matter but come on, women and football? Get kettle on love!” These were far from the worst examples.
On Wednesday afternoon Leeds released a statement saying “they completely condemn” any harassment directed at Carney and that “everyone in our team has a lot of respect for Karen for what she has achieved in this game”.
Megan Rapinoe from overseas in the USA wrote on Twitter: “Shame. Shame. Shame. Thicken up that skin y’all. Also, don’t come for [Karen Carney] she’s a National treasure.”
Leeds have yet to publicly acknowledge any link between their actions and the outcome, but privately there is sadness in the response, which the club did not expect.
Carney has been invited to visit Leeds training ground to meet Radrizzani and striker Patrick Bamford, who has experienced consistent online harassment throughout his Leeds career.
The tweet is expected to remain on Leeds’ account, in the belief that removing it could spark a second wave of harassment.
