Burnley Striker Suspended For Four-Year-Old Tweet Calling For Gays to "Burn" and "Die"
By Ty Duffy
Burnley earned promotion to the Premier League. Burnley striker Andre Gray was suddenly much higher profile. The Internet found some unsavory, though old tweets.
In 2012, when he was playing for Hinckley Town, he expressed his wish for the ubiquitous gay population to #burn and #die.
Other tweets show him making comments about women, “lightys,” and using gay in a pejorative context. The tweets are deplorable, however much of his ignorance may be mitigated by his rough upbringing.
The Football Association has suspended Gray for four matches, about 10 percent of the season, for six “aggravated” rule violations. That is longer than the suspension for violent conduct (three matches) though only half the penalty handed to Luis Suarez for racism in 2011.
Harsh action shouldn’t surprise anyone. The tweet now would have warranted punishment. The scandal was the same as if the Tweet did happen now. Managing PR for a sports entity in such a scenario is not a consideration. It’s the consideration.