Brit Gets 56 Days in Jail for Racist Tweet Against Soccer Player
- Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:10am by
Liz Klimas
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Fans supporting Fabrice Muamba. (Photo: Facebook)
SWANSEA, Wales (The Blaze/AP) — The student who mocked Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba on Twitter after the player collapsed on the field during a match has been jailed for inciting racial hatred.
(Related: Bolton says Muamba critically ill after collapsing)
Liam Stacey, a 21-year-old student at Swansea University, admitted to the charge last week and was jailed Tuesday for 56 days.
Liam Stacey (Photo via The Guardian)
Chief prosecutor Jim Brisbane says “we hope this case will serve as a warning to anyone who may think that comments made online are somehow beyond the law.”
Fabrice Muamba (Photo: Facebook)
Muamba’s heart stopped beating on its own for 78 minutes after he collapsed during an FA Cup quarterfinal match against Tottenham on March 17. He remains hospitalized in intensive care.
(Related: Muamba breathing independently, talking again)
According to the Guardian, Stacey’s original racist tweet – allegedly reading “LOL, F*** Muamba. He’s dead.” — was criticized by those on the twittersphere, which resulted in offensive and racist retaliatory posts toward those attacking him:
Stacey branded people who criticised him on Twitter as “wogs” and told one to “go pick some cotton”.
The Guardian reports that Stacey wept during the hearing yesterday, and his defense attorney Gareth Jones said his client “lost his head” in making those tweets. He said that the university Stacey attended as a biology undergraduate student has asked him not to return.
Stacey said he was drunk at the time of the tweets and does not consider himself racist. The Guardian reports district judge John Charles saying the the “racist abuse” was “instigated as a result of a vile and abhorrent comment about a young footballer who was fighting for his life.“ Judge Charles acknowledges that it is clear Stacey regretted the post later and that he had better ”learn to handle [his] alcohol”.
CNET reports Stacey was found guilty of violating Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 for “sending by a public communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”. CNET speculates that with this ruling British courts will see similar cases for which “judges will, hopefully, be able to discern between the threatening, the hateful and the simply humorous.”
Others have questioned if the court went too far with jail time for a drunken tweet that was regretted. What do you think?
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Comments (96)
OldGuy66
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:07amSo who decides what someone is allowed to say? They must have special people judging what‘s proper and what’s not. I bet those fellas lean a tad to the left. OOOh, was that a violation? Sounds like they need a campaign of disgruntled citizens to speak out! Enough people push back on this and the system would collapse with the zealots crying uncle. I wonder if calling for civil disobedience is against the “speech law”? Glad I don’t reside in the good old UK.
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:16amWow, just think what would happen in the U.S if you got jailed for racist comments. The jail would be full of folks like Jessie, Sharpton, Obama, Al Gore, and most of the MSM.
sure am glad we have that 1st amendment to stand behind.
Report Post »OldGuy66
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:28amI can see a Monty Python skit where the defendant asks the prosecutor to tell what he said wrong. After verbalizing the offense the prosecutor is charged and then the judge has the clerk read back the testimony only to charge the clerk. As the camera fades out the court is empty….You now it could be kinda funny, if it weren’t so scary. God save the Queen, but he better be careful what he says.
Report Post »TeaParty_RonPaul_R3VOLUTION
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:48pmSO how did they find out that it was him? Did he use his real name for the twitter account? Or did they track him down? IF they tracked him down, then I think that is freaking scary. This is worse than nazism, in my opinion, or at least just as bad.
Report Post »toto
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:49pmThe speech police are here in the US too. All of this stuff used to be called ill breeding, bad manners, or low class. In a FREE country, they didn’t put you in jail for it. Look at how cowed and complicit the media was in promoting the verbal (and actual for some) lynching of Zimmerman without knowing all the facts, ALL of them were cowards, including Fox. None of them said “wait just a minute, we need to get the facts before we pronounce judgement”. Radical blacks are using the same tactics as Muslim terrorists and indeed in some cases are one and the same (Farrahkan), and blaming whites for every ill in their lives. If they cleaned up their communities, valued education in disciplines that had actual jobs or careers associated with them, earned honest livings, quit doing and selling drugs and raised their babies with the content of their character in mind, no one would have a problem with them walking through the neighborhood. Are white people perfect, of course not, but they are not oppressing anyone, and very good case could be made for intimidation of whites by the black community.
Report Post »Cemetery
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:09pmIt‘s only racism if it’s aimed towards someone with black or brown skin.
Report Post »barnsy
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:19pmEngland…What a country! Arresting people for speech,Muslims taking over,government cameras spying on people. We should have let the Nazis take them over!…There wouldnt be much difference.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:37pmThe Brits are gone. Does anybody remember the mascot that they came up with for the Summer Olympics? It was a guys in a rubber suits dressed up like a surveilance camera-like aliens. Yeah, real cute.
Report Post »pavepaws
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 3:14pmI think the United Kingdom is lost.
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 4:29pmThis is what happens when the tribe gets complete control of a nation… America is the last free one standing but it’s only a matter of time it appears.
Report Post »P C BE DAMNED
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 8:45pmWe don’t have any protection here in America and we are open for all the hate our neighbors can muster if we are strait white men. FOOL
Report Post »scruffycat
Posted on March 29, 2012 at 2:21amIt tells me that blacks aren’t liked very much in England either.
Report Post »s.n.
Posted on March 29, 2012 at 10:36amNo….you are wrong. The people you listed would be exempt. It would be all of us who didn‘t vote for Barry or don’t agree w/ Obamacare or all of the other Nobama agenda…. We’re the racists…we would be jailed
Report Post »Nemo13
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:03amAbsolute insanity! Fight back Brits! Grow a spine! Don’t cry in court, shout loud that you’d do it again and you are against PC idiots! Regain your honor and quality England people! Recongnize and remove lunacy!
Report Post »Polarized America
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:02amWasn’t the guy at the atheist rally who dumped 75 “F..bombs” British ?
Report Post »That’s what happens when repress free speech
Polarized America
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:03am* you
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:00amYour repeated violation of the Verbal Morality Statute has caused me to notify the San Angeles Police Department. Please remain where you are for your reprimand.
Report Post »Conservative Freshman
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 3:22pmha ha demolition man
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:57amI would not want to live in a country where someone can go to jail for posting an insensitive remark online. I do not consider Britain or other European countries that have those laws to be free societies. Hate speech laws are just another club that “protected classes” can use to browbeat people that don’t have those same protections. Instead of people being equal before the law they are pigeonholed by race and given unequal treatment. That is not justice in any sense of the word.
Report Post »OklahomaBound
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:30amYou nailed it on the head Doug! When/if they try that here in the US it will be time to take to the streets armed and ready to fight.
Report Post »G-WHIZ
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:50amLett’s hear-it….A-MEN, BROTHER!!…Oh–oH! I used the dreaded “christian/jewish”-speach…the mediamatters/soros/UNION(etc)-crouds are starting to gather to crush my property and defficate on my car, desise…pestulance, etc…etc… . :o(
Report Post »gramma b
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:57amThis is just crazy.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:57amOverreach by the U.K.
Report Post »IMPEACHBHO
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:56amJ.Jackson, Sharpton, Obama – could all be accused of the same thing with the Zimmerman case.
Report Post »huey6367
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:54amToo bad he would result to that type of rhetoric (in his weak defense, he is 21 and filled with testosterone). At the same time, aren’t you glad you live in the US so you can say what you want without fear of jail/prison?
Report Post »rangerp
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:17amgive it time. the dems will be putting you in jail for anything that violates their PC rules in the near future
Report Post »OldGuy66
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:54amThey apply this “law” evenly across the population? Everybody gets the same scrutiny? So the radical Islamist must be very reserved in the UK, right?
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:53amThat Tweet was racist? Certainly morbid and uncalled for, but not racist. Back in the early ’80s I had to investigate an accident where a military vehicle had collided with a charter bus full of British soccer fans on their way to a game in Germany. They were so rabidly against the opposing team and voiced all sorts of foul wishes to include a number of death chants. Not to mention what all that I was called. Was glad to see all 52 of them leave when their replacement bus arrived. Then I was finally able to get my job done. This is truly PC gone overboard, and these football hooligans are crazy, but this does not support a racism charge.
Report Post »makamae
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:51amYet another good reason to NOT live in the UK.
Report Post »TEIN
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:49amIf do not like his “tweet” then stop reading it!!!
Report Post »Plus don’t post !!! GB Ministry of Tweet’s will find you out…sounds like a Monty Python theme….
Yama
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:49amStreaming your every thought from your brain directly to the world via Twitter is a proven recipe for personal disaster. It is awful that this poor guy goes to jail and gets kicked out of University for his drunken rant, but we in the US need to see this story as a cautionary tale. Our rights are eroding (British free speech is already dead, apparently). There have been several kids here in the US that have lost their college scholarships because of their ugly Twitter rants…if you reread your posts before you publish them as a double check that you are willing to take whatever comes your way as a result of your words, you can save some heartache in the future…
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 2:35pmI refuse to hold back on my own free speech rights out of fear. That is exactly how dictators take power.
Report Post »Kisses6350
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:44am*********Thinks********* Half of the fonters on this sight might be at risk…………………… *smirk*
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:43am.
“sending by a public communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”.
Wow! If Obama had a law like that, do Ya‘ll think they’d throw me in Prison?………
I’ve been told, I have a Bad Monkey here lately. So if I have said anything that has hurt Ya‘lls feelings in anyway I’m Sorry…..
But, I’ll probably do it again, before the day is over, so I’m Sorry in advance……..
Vote SDM 2012
Report Post »term limits for congress
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:10amMaybe you should get a breath-a-lizer. I installed a breath-a-lizer on my Tweeter a long time ago. Very helpful device.
[The capitalist in me is thinking that there could be a market for such a device... with supplemental Twitter insurance... I'm gonna be rich!]
Report Post »Joey Joe Joe
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:43amLooks like the spirit of entitlement just met the spirit of oppression. BHO is a fan of both, and that‘s why he’ll be voted out in November.
Report Post »snowdrop
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:42amWow, what happened to the “stick and stones” motto? That is more than some have received for violent crime!
Report Post »Minonkman
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:42amI have been called everything from a white boy to a *******, I told them I was proud of who I am. Does that make me something I am not.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:38amWell guess what’s coming to America? If you criticize hoodies, you’ll be a racist, if you criticize clothes, you’re a racist, and if you criticize anything other than characteristics that are typically white, then you will be labelled a racist in need of reeducation.
Report Post »oldguy49
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:47ammy free speach rides on my hip………………
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:50amAnd of course if you don’t like things going this direction that will be the “Bubba affect”, and if people are concerned about it going this direction, then it must be mental illness. Incidentally, isn’t it odd how close hoodie wearing is to wearing a Muslim head covering? I guess the youth in America wouldn’t have to take too be a step there huh?
Report Post »trolltrainer
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 11:05amoldguy49, don’t be a jackass! What are you going to do, cap every cop that comes to arrest you? I don’t believe you even own a gun, and if you do then you should learn some respect for it. A CCW can be revoked for what you posted.
Grow up and stop acting like an idiot.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:45pmTroll
Report Post »Who the hell are you to be calling somebody a jackass? You show me one case where somebody had their CCW revoked for posting something on a board. Seems to me that YOU are the idiot and You need to grow up and get educated before running your mouth. Nobody elected you to referee ANYTHING.
trolltrainer
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 2:05pmMil-Dot
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:45pm
Troll
Who the hell are you to be calling somebody a jackass? You show me one case where somebody had their CCW revoked for posting something on a board. Seems to me that YOU are the idiot and You need to grow up and get educated before running your mouth. Nobody elected you to referee ANYTHING.
———————————————————————-
Perhaps you are right. Maybe I should have kept my reaction to myself. I just get sick and tired of otherwise serious people spouting off this “kill em all” John Wayne attitude. We all know that when push comes to shove you are not about to open up on law enforcement officers. Only of they open fire first and then you might as well kiss your ass goodbye because the best you will do is take a few of them with you. No sane gun owner should threaten to use their weapon unless it is life and death last resort.
OTOH, are you not doing to me the very SAME thing I did to oldguy49? Who made YOU the referee? In answer to your question I cannot point out even one incident where a post on the internet got a CCW revoked. However, most states that I am aware of holds the option to pull a CCW in the case of an unstable mental condition. Threatening random violence online would certainly go a long way to prove a CCW holder unstable. Just a thought.
Report Post »burdenedsoul
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:34amWow, I agree that the comment should have never been made but why not just banish the guy from twitter instead of ruining his life. If history is any indication, then what we are seeing here is something that is not very far from making it’s way into US laws. That’s not exactly what I would call freedom of speech folks…
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:28amSad this is where we are headed, freedom is gone in all forms, that aren’t invasive to others, the complete opposite of how freedoms should be.
Report Post »black9897
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:36amYeah, who likes free speech anyways. That‘s soo 1800’s.
Report Post »abefij
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 1:59pm“So this is where we are headed…”
Why be so fatalistic. It’s our job to educate. This is the bumper sticker I’m going to make:
Free speech, or freedom from offense – Choose ONE.
“I don’t believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do” – Ronald Reagan
Report Post »Biff_Poindexter
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:27amDumb law, the guy should be allowed to speak his mind and tell the truth…who cares if someone feelings gets hurt…anyone ever think maybe this soccer player has heart problems becuz of drug use?? so he may have brought it on himself…
Report Post »Kisses6350
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:29pmBiff? Seriously? *****smirks****
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:22amWith those kind of laws we would have to jail all the lefties, race baiters, democrats, project pimps, tele producers, lunch lady cafeteria workers, Flukers, and gas station attendants in NJ. Not to mention Biden would be in the clink as soon as he was released from his last statement. Too right there wankers in Wales.
Report Post »RedDawn2012
Posted on March 29, 2012 at 10:47amYup. Bill Maher would get the death penalty, and everyone at MSNBC would be jailed for life. Let’s do it!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 10:15amHmn.. that is a foreign country, I do not know their laws. very tacky comment? yep
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