One of the more unsavoury incidents occurred over the festive period when Karen Carney, working as a pundit for Amazon Prime, was ridiculed on social media by Leeds United’s official Twitter account.
Carney, a former England international, was giving her considered opinion, but that clearly didn’t resonate with Leeds, who ridiculed her with a tweet, which invited interaction.
? “Promoted because of Covid”
? Won the league by 10 points
? Hi @primevideosport pic.twitter.com/Ctz18sksZA— Leeds United (@LUFC) December 29, 2020
Unfortunately for Carney, being a ‘woman in a man’s game’ meant that a steady stream of vitriolic abuse came her way.
When the club were called out on it by other Twitter users, Leeds’ owner, Andrea Radrizzani, doubled down and suggested that Carney had been disrespectful.
I take the responsibility of the Club tweet. 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
— Andrea Radrizzani (@andrearadri) December 29, 2020
The end result of the whole episode is that Carney has now been forced to delete her Twitter account, per the Daily Mail, to save herself from further harassment.
Social media can often be a wonderfully entertaining space, but occasionally users overstep the mark for what is considered tasteful and decent behaviour.
That’s certainly the case here, and Leeds may want to reflect on the part they’ve played in it.