Two days ago, Dutch soccer club PSV proudly announced the signing of 22 year-old FIFA player Tony Kok to their esports team. Before the weekend was over, that contract had been torn up over sexist comments Kok has made on Twitter over the years.
PSV — who were so proud of the initial announcement that they made this trailer for it — say in a statement on the club’s website that while they performed a background check before offering the deal, “Kok and his management failed to share information about his past”.
They’re referring to a number of deleted tweets (which fans have since recovered, and some of which are viewable on SoccerNews) in which Kok makes derogatory, sexist comments towards women. One particular tweet stands out though, where Kok — who it turns out is a fan of Ajax, a rival Dutch club — calls PSV fans “gay”.
Speaking with Dutch site Omroep Brabant, PSV’s general manager Toon Gerbrands said “The behaviour that Kok has shown online is so far from the core values of PSV that a continuation of our cooperation is impossible. This was a hopeless and embarrassing situation for him and for us.”
Kok’s management, meanwhile, told AD that while Kok is ultimately responsible for his actions, the recovery of his old tweets was part of a “smear campaign”.
Comments
7 responses to “Soccer Team Signs FIFA Player, Cuts Him Two Days Later Over “Online Behaviour””
lmao “but using what i actually said is a smear campaign!” idiot. im glad it came back to bite him in the ass. at least have the guts to own your own bullshit
Interesting to note though that the guy is 22 and these tweets are in some cases years old. Young people do and say stupid shit all the time. The fact that he had deleted the tweets shows that he knew they were stupid. It’s a bit rough that he have these things re-surface to haunt him. Only got himself to blame, but as someone who did his fair share of stupid stuff in his youth, I can sympathise!
That’s a good point man. It’d be different if he was 36 but he’s not. If they were things he said even 5 years ago, then he was only 17. I was very stupid when I was 17. I have no idea what I would’ve been like if social media had been a thing back then (the 90s!!!!).
LOL, back then we made prank calls from public payphones or TPed a teacher’s garden. Simpler times!
then he should straight up say “i was young, stupid and an asshole but that doesnt reflect who i am now” rather than whinging its a smear campaign.
This is something that a lot of kids are going to have to live with – living with social media from an early age with lax privacy restrictions means every potential employer is a quick search away from discovering the idiot you were in HS/Uni. Similarly, most employers will be pretty forgiving, but I guess that doesn’t apply if the job’s in the public spotlight.
Brings to mind this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4501394/PM-proposes-right-erase-social-media-history.html
Interesting idea, but this guy did delete his tweets. Somehow people were able to dig them up… Not sure how that works.