Eni Aluko says she has sought legal advice after the online abuse she has received over the last seven days.
The 36-year-old former England international has been subject to abuse on social media in the wake of misogynistic comments made by Joey Barton after she appeared as a pundit during ITV’s FA Cup coverage.
The Athletic understands that Aluko and colleague Lucy Ward will be taking legal action.
Aluko did not name Barton but said the online hate had left her “scared” to leave her house and resulted in her travelling abroad as she feared for her safety.
“I’ve genuinely been scared this week,” Aluko said in one of two 15-minute videos posted on her Instagram account. “I didn’t leave my house until Friday and I’m now abroad. Because it’s really important to say that online abuse has a direct impact on your safety and how you feel and how safe you feel in real life.
“I’ve felt under threat this week. I’ve felt like something is going to happen to me. And I don’t say that for anyone to feel sorry for me – I say that for people to understand the reality and the impact that hate speech has. The impact that racism has. The impact that sexism has. The impact that misogyny has on all of us females in the game, in sports broadcasting.
She continued: “I’ve seen a lot of stuff mentioned this week around freedom of speech and people being entitled to their opinions and the reality is that our freedom of speech isn’t really free.
“Our speech isn’t really free and neither is our opinion, because depending on what you say, there are laws that govern that opinion and that freedom of speech. That’s not something that happened this week, that’s always been the case.
“If you come out and are racist, or sexist or misogynistic and threaten people online, there are laws for that and that govern that behaviour. It’s not free. It’s not freedom of consequences, either. There are consequences for that. And over the past week I’ve taken advice from lawyers and a course of action has now been decided upon.”
Barton has made a number of misogynistic comments on social media since December targeting women working in football.
This culminated last week with him comparing Aluko and Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West.
Aluko had been working as an ITV pundit during the FA Cup third-round tie between Crystal Palace and Everton, while Ward, a 49-year-old former striker and academy welfare officer at Leeds United, was on co-commentary duty.
ITV subsequently released a statement calling his comments “shameful”, while UK sports minister Stuart Andrew labelled the remarks “dangerous”
An ITV statement read: “For Joey Barton, an ex-professional player with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killers in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part. Football is for everyone.”
Speaking to the culture, media and sport select committee in January, Andrew said: “These are dangerous comments that open the floodgates for abuse and that’s not acceptable. But I’m always slightly wary in these situations that these sorts of people want the oxygen and I don’t want to fuel that.
“I want to put on record the amazing contribution that women and girls make to football and sport more generally in this country.
“The opportunities for young people to play football at weekends would not exist if it wasn’t for the fact that we had so many volunteers, many of whom are women. So I condemn it.”
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Read the full article here