Manchester United Defender Rio Ferdinand Fined For Retweeting Racial Comment About Ashley Cole
Rio Ferdinand learned that Twitter can be a very dangerous thing. The Manchester United defender drew a fine of $70630 for retweeting a tweet that called Ashley Cole an offensive term. Since Cole is an African-American and we do not promote intolerance on this site, you will have to find the term for yourself.
This will be a growing trend in sports going forward. Remember, tweets and retweets can not be taken back. There is always someone watching. Retweets may not exactly be an endorsement of something but you need to be careful before pushing that button. Social media can be good but it can also be a bad thing.
There have not been a lot of fines based on Twitter comments yet and Rio Ferdinand is the first person to draw a fine for a non-original Tweet. I can’t imagine that is something that he wanted to be first in but could be something to watch going forward. Twitter is a good way to connect with fans and journalists, but players must be careful when they use the social media tool.
We are in a world that has a 24 hour sports and news cycle. People are constantly looking for something to talk about, which means people have to be careful about what they say online. Anything can become a topic and anything negative can turn into a huge talking point. Teams are going to start monitoring Twitter extremely close in order to make sure their players are representing the team right.
If there is ever a trivia question down the road asking who the first player in the history of Twitter to get fined for a retweet is, just remember Rio Ferdinand. Since I am not a soccer fan, this is the only way that I have ever heard of him. The power of Twitter wins again.
Riley Schmitt is a writer for Rant Sports.
