Jarrod Bowen: "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"; FA is looking into the West Ham winger's post
Friday 26 March 2021 12:22, UK
The FA is looking into a 2012 Twitter post from West Ham winger Jarrod Bowen, which featured the N-word.
Bowen has apologised for the "unacceptable content" in an "offensive and immature" tweet, with West Ham saying they will deal with the matter internally.
"In 2012, when I was a 15-year-old kid, I posted an offensive and immature tweet," Bowen said.
"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 West Ham United spokesperson 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."
Earlier this year, Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani was banned for three games and fined £100,000 for an Instagram post.
Cavani was told to complete face-to-face education classes after admitting a charge for a breach of FA Rule E3. He missed United's games against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Watford in January.
The 33-year-old shared an Instagram story from a fan which featured a racially offensive term after United's 3-2 win at Southampton on November 29, in which Cavani scored twice, including a stoppage-time winner. The post was later deleted and Cavani apologised.
In 2016, Watford forward Andre Gray was handed a four-game suspension by the FA for misconduct in relation to comments he made on social media.
The homophobic Twitter posts only emerged in 2016 but dated back to 2012, when Gray was playing for Hinckley Town.
Gray released a statement when the tweets were made public in which he apologised.
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