The editor of a supporter-run Manchester United website has been accused of being racist after private messages sent to a Nigerian United supporter were shared on Twitter.
After seeing an advert asking for staff writers, 24-year-old David Adediran approached MUFC Latest about the vacancies. A huge United fan since he was a child, David, an aspiring writer, saw this as an opportunity to showcase his writing skills.
Having exchanged messages about the application process (see above), Paul Bienkowski, the website’s editor, sent him a message describing him as a ‘typical Nigerian’.
‘Making excuses, proving nothing,’ the message continues.
David replied, pointing out that he had merely claimed that a two hour window wasn’t enough time for him to produce a piece of writing to the best of his abilities and that his nationality had no relevance to their conversation.
Bienkowski replied once again, this time describing Nigerians as a ‘waste of oxygen and flesh’.
‘Scum country. Bye moron,’ the message continued.
‘I don’t commit fraud on a daily basis like Nigerians do.’
David, who studied business intelligence and analytics at London’s Westminster University, later shared the exchange of messages on his Twitter page. The tweet reaching over 1000 retweets.
In the time since, Bienkowski has apologised to David. In a statement given to BuzzFeed News, he said:
“I fully accept that what I said was immature and uncalled for. Mr Ade did not need to accept my apology. My comments were not intended as racist and neither constituted racism in any way.”
A tweet on Thursday confirmed that Bienkowski had been removed from his role.
https://twitter.com/MUFCLatestnews/status/819597896517611521
