Paddy Power apologises for ill-judged Fan Denial feature
Chelsea Pride highlights “homophobic and highly offensive” content in operator’s latest social media short
Paddy Power has apologised after its latest Fan Denial video caused offence for including a tweet featuring a homophobic slur.
Fan Denial is posted online every Monday and focuses on a specific game to platform the ridiculous reaction of football fans following defeat for their club.
This week the video focused on Chelsea following the club’s 2-1 FA Cup final defeat, but one tweet chosen for the Paddy Power short described some Blues fans as “rent boys”.
Chelsea Pride – an LGBT group of Chelsea supporters – took to Twitter to express their disappointment and frustration with the ill-judged tweet.
“The inclusion of this language in its Fan Denial film perpetuates the idea this kind of banter is acceptable in football. It is not,” tweeted the account.
“The term is homophobic and highly offensive to the LGBT+ community and we are relieved to see the film has quickly been taken down.”
Our statement regarding the homophobic video posted by @paddypower. Following the response from @kickitout and many other members for the #lgbtq football community. pic.twitter.com/BPAvNxueed
— Chelsea Pride 🏳️🌈⚽️🏳️⚧️ (@ChelseaPride_) August 5, 2020
Posting an apology online, Paddy Power said it never endorses the tweets and posts used in the Fan Denial feature and deleted the video as soon as the offensive content was highlighted.
The firm wrote: “We are conscious that nothing inappropriate is included. This week, however, we messed up.
“We allowed one tweet to be included that should have been removed. Paddy Power does not condone the use of such derogatory and offensive terms, and as soon as this comment was brought to our attention, we deleted the video.
“We are very sorry for any offence caused before it was removed. We are reviewing our approval processes on content produced by third parties to ensure content on our platform is in line with our values as a brand.
“We are very proud of the work we have done around LGBTQ+ issues and intend to continue being Allies to the community.”
Paddy Power was behind the launch of LGBT+ rainbow laces in top-flight football and also donated £10,000 to the Attitude Magazine Foundation for every goal scored by Russia at the 2018 World Cup.