Joachim Andersen Got over 300 Death Threats After Darwin Núñez Incident vs. Liverpool
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZucker
Featured Columnist IVAugust 16, 2022
Crystal Palace center back Joachim Andersen received hundreds of death threats following the club's 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Monday.
Andersen was involved in the match's most contentious moment when Darwin Núñez headbutted him and received a red card in the 57th minute.
NBC Sports Soccer @NBCSportsSoccerDarwin Núñez has been sent off! 🔴 <br><br>See what happened to lead to his red card. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LIVCRY?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LIVCRY</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LFC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CPFC</a> <a href="https://t.co/5JghB5RvAu">pic.twitter.com/5JghB5RvAu</a>
The Danish defender shared a number of threats he has since received, saying he "got maybe 3-400 of these messages last night." (warning: images contain profanity.)
Matchday365 @Matchday365Joachim Andersen has brought attention to a stream of abuse he has received on Instagram from Liverpool fans following his involvement in Darwin Nunez’s red card last night.<br><br>This abuse includes death threats, wishing death upon his family and more. <a href="https://t.co/liegUTe6EV">pic.twitter.com/liegUTe6EV</a>
In February 2021, English soccer officials wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asking for the companies to do more to curb the abuse players receive on social media:
"The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal. It causes distress to the recipients and the vast majority of people who abhor racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind. We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse. Your inaction has created the belief in the minds of the anonymous perpetrators that they are beyond reach. The relentless flow of racist and discriminatory messages feeds on itself: the more it is tolerated by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, platforms with billions of users, the more it becomes normal, accepted behaviour."
The Professional Footballers' Association funded a study in August 2021 that found 44 percent of the 400 Premier League players with a personal Twitter account had received abuse on the platform during the 2020-21 season.
Home Secretary Priti Patel rolled out new legislation in January that would issue stadium bans to supporters guilty of targeting soccer players online or chanting racist or homophobic insults inside the ground. The new law went into effect in June.
According to the Times' Paul Joyce and Gary Jacob, Crystal Palace is expected to contact local authorities regarding the threats directed toward Andersen.
