Vile account exposed as Sheffield Wednesday rally after racist abuse - skipper demands action
The partner of Jamal Lowe was the recipient of abhorrent racist abuse targeted at the Sheffield Wednesday forward.
Sheffield Wednesday captain Liam Palmer has spoken out against the lack of accountability shown by major social media companies after a teammate was targeted in a latest example of vile racist abuse towards an Owls player.
Following a message of solidarity in an official club statement that they would ‘work to ensure those responsible are identified and held accountable’, forward Jamal Lowe published an abhorrent message of racist abuse sent his partner on Instagram. The message, which twice described the Owls top scorer as a ‘monkey’ and was also ableist in tone, was posted after the Owls’ 2-0 defeat at Notts County in which Lowe was sent off in the second half.
A club statement released on Wednesday afternoon made clear it was ‘not the first incident of its kind involving our players, staff and their families this season’ and outlined ‘the continued targeting of individuals and their loved ones is utterly unacceptable.’
The user of the account in question on this occasion quickly changed his username, with the account now seemingly deleted. A digital search of the account’s activity on Instagram shows a ‘highly toxic’, ‘explicit’ and ‘prolific’ pattern of aggressive trolling, often of a racist nature towards black players, targeted towards clubs and figures across different countries and leagues.
The account also carried crazed, habitual accusations of match-fixing towards players, clubs and leagues following the results of matches. Despite social media speculation, the account does not appear to be linked to a West Yorkshire business owner of the same name.
As recently as last weekend Wednesday were among the clubs to wear t-shirts backing the EFL’s Together Against Racism campaign. In a message posted on Wednesday evening, club captain Palmer demanded big social media companies take action to have accounts attached to an ID in order to stamp out racist abuse - which he feels will be more effective than the campaigning efforts that currently exist.
Palmer posted: “Sadly we have seen it one too many times. We wear the t-shirts. (LAST WEEK) Take the knee (FANS BOO). Do the educational workshops @showracismtheredcard / @kickitout and still it means nothing.
“Social media platforms need to take accountability. NOW. The technology is there! Look at LinkedIn. You put in your passport / ID and as if by magic the abhorrent messages and monkey emojis are nowhere to be seen because an actual person is accountable and attached to what they post from that account.
“The only reason Instagram or Twitter don't bother is purely money and greed. They want the most amount of users possible. It's hard enough to deal with general hate and abuse on social media when you don't play as well as you hope. Never mind being abused for the colour of your skin.”