Charlton Athletic event promoting diversity had to oust viewers who subjected participants to bigoted abuse
Charlton Athletic’s diversity-promoting online event to battle bigotry was invaded by virtual participants who subjected organisers to homophobic, racist and sexist abuse.
The club’s Proud Valiants, its LGBTQI supporters group, took part in this year’s National’s Football vs Homophobia Month of Action on Saturday.
The activity included the launch show for National Football v Homophobia Homophobia Month of Action, hosted by Charlton at The Valley on Saturday evening.
But the comedy event which followed – The Worst Football Songs Ever – was infiltrated by “a small number of people whose only intention was to spoil it for others”, a statement by Charlton said today.
The virtual infiltrators used “abusive and offensive hate crime language which included homophobic, racist and sexist language”, the club said.
The organisers were able to oust them and restart the event.
The Proud Valiants have now taken legal advice about the incident and are corresponding with the Police Hate Crime Unit.
Once the infiltrators were ousted, the participants “had a very enjoyable evening” said Charlton.
The Charlton statement continued: “The Proud Valiants, Charlton Athletic Football Club, Charlton Athletic Community Trust and the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust have a long history of working together to tackle all discrimination. We stand together to unequivocally restate and pledge our commitment to tackling all forms of hatred and division in sport and wider society. We welcome all fans regardless of their sexuality, race/ethnicity, or gender, and any hate crimes committed against these groups will not be tolerated.”
Chair of the Proud Valiants, Rob Harris, said “The way the abuse was directed would suggest the perpetrators of the crime were not from our club, in fact we are very lucky to have real support from the club’s wider fanbase and are blessed with a great new owner, a club, a community trust, and a supporters’ trust who back us without question. This incident and recent events at other clubs show that homophobia is still a big issue in the sport – however the message remains that we will not be deterred from following the sport we love because of the prejudice and hatred of minority.
“As a united force will continue our work against Homophobia and Transphobia in the game, alongside all other forms of discrimination.”
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