Arsenal

[leelee]

Don't get this world at all. The DVD comment about Sonny is like saying an irishman likes a drink. I struggle to see how this is racist, it was a tongue in cheek comment. The world has gone way overboard in my opinion.

RIP Claude.

 

[WannaDanceWithUdogie]

RIP Claude.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Come on, guys & gals.

Let's not get bogged down with needless discussions about racism. There's a thread for that!

A person has passed away, and the cause/reason is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is, based on what I've read in here, a harmless human being has had his life cut short.

R.I.P Claude!

 

[peteblue]

Just seen this that Claude tweeted a few days ago very sad and it looks like he may have taken his own life. So so sad.

No one is forcing you to watch it don’t worry I will disappear soon to see my mother then you can all be happy https://twitter.com/Pitabdhi92/status/1376056814576357379

 

[dontcallme]

Damn so sad. I’m guessing after he was axed from aftv he probably never really recovered and ended up on a negative spiral. So bad that aftv didn’t stand by one of their own. I don’t think what he said was that outrageous and maybe a slap on the wrist as it was a spare of the moment thing in a heated NLD, shame on AFTV.

He made a blatantly racist comment then lied about it instead of apologising. He was rightly fired.

Doesn’t make him an outright bad guy though and it is sad that he has passed away.

 

[dontcallme]

Disagree, Robbie, DT and Troopz have all made casual racist jokes and even said things about Kane which can be seen as derogatory. They literally used Claude to set an example and didn’t stand by him.

Nope. The difference is sponsors started pulling out.

If the others did anything that would lead to a loss of revenue they would be fired. Claude wasn’t fired on moral ground, but financial.

 

[JCRD]

Nope. The difference is sponsors started pulling out.

If the others did anything that would lead to a loss of revenue they would be fired. Claude wasn’t fired on moral ground, but financial.

Robbi shouldnt be blamed for that in any way - if i made a racist comment at work, my employers would fire me no doubt. If I then decide to do what I do whatever that may be, dont think my employers should be held accountable or even held to task.

This is so sad but dont think the racial stuff contributed to this, I think Covid also certainly didnt help - plenty of people out there have also been impacted by Covid which driven them to doing things... its been a tough time mentally for people who suffer.

 

[DJS]

Such a shame about Claude, I had a nasty feeling he might do something like this after being axed from AFTV.

Yes his comment was stupid but I think he was axed harshly to be honest and can‘t help but think AFTV have exploited him as comedy material in the past then hung him out to dry.

And others on their channel have made dodgy comments and allowed to get away with it.

 

[Humbolt]

I'm not sure speculating as to the cause of death is at all helpful to anyone until there has been an official announcement.

 

[Aphex]

He was obviously a vulnerable person, and people like that shouldn't be on social media platforms.

The fact is, social media is fucking toxic. It's a cess pit of abuse. The government need to do something to make people accountable. Honestly, in 50 years people will look back in amazement at the fact that social media was unregulated to the extent it is.

You simply can't have such a large part of society able to abuse others with anonymity. Twitter is full of pedos, racists etc

About time accounts were tied to your identity.

 

[Blake Griffin]

He had a heart attack from what I heard, no mention of suicide.

The tweets has been removed, what did they say?

 

[Gbspurs]

The world really needs to get to grips with people abusing each other on social media. It's getting out of hand. How hard is it to be civil?

 

[Real_madyidd]

The world really needs to get to grips with people abusing each other on social media. It's getting out of hand. How hard is it to be civil?

You would say that, you poophead.

 

[dirtyh]

social media is such a disease.

rip claude.

 

[dontcallme]

The world really needs to get to grips with people abusing each other on social media. It's getting out of hand. How hard is it to be civil?

Tbh I only ever post on moderated sites. Sites that a free for all are really bad for people’s mental health.

It was clear even from afar that Claude was struggling. He was never going to find validation from the likes of Twitter.

 

[soflapaul]

Always enjoyed Claude. Honest fellow even if misguided when it comes to team selection. RIP

 

[rossdapep]

It's time Twitter gets its shit together and ensures individuals are using their real name and profile picture.

These idiot abusers/trolls are more often than not hiding behind an image of a player and a tagline, basically giving them anonymity and no responsibility and feel free to say what they like.

There should also be some form of process in which they need to understand what is not acceptable behaviour.

 

[PrettyColors]

There's a lot of factors at play here, but wow. RIP Claude, I actually feel quite sick reading the news and the tweets that led up to this event.

I'm not sure if it's because I have this parasocial relationship with AFTV and football fans that I've never met in general. But what I think AFTV got right was giving a platform to the longtime ST holders and groups outside of the stadium who aren't pretentious, corporate, or casual fans. Claude would be the example of someone who might curse at you if he saw you in a Spurs shirt but would apologize if he saw you in another circumstance, and prime AFTV during the Wenger era really provided a live lifeline into the desperation and emotion that goes into football.

At the end of the day these were just normal people, people who never thought they would get this level of exposure to anyone, on the internet or in real life. I think Claude's DVD comment was idiotic and hurtful, and I also know Robbie and Troopz (Troopz especially) have uttered some horrific comments themselves and used Claude as a scapegoat for their prior actions as well..
At some point though, and this is not to excuse racism but explain it, Claude is a fat, bald, white old-school Londoner who looks and talks like he never got much education. They used him as a bit of a clown, told him to play a character, and he was the butt of many jokes on the show. It doesn't surprise me that he might say casually racist stuff, but then, most people like him don't have a platform.

What's a little sickening is living through this and knowing a lot of people on twitter who tweeted at Claude or about AFTV regularly, I can viscerally feel the impact of social media in real time. I actively laughed and commented on a lot of AFTV stuff and took the piss out of them all the time. I remember reading a lot of the insults, some awful comments and even threats against the guy this past year. It just feels all so preventable and perverted, the hypersocialization and globalization process that makes a star, and later a scapegoat, of a bloke who 20 years ago would just be Claude in the pub and go to the grave as that. I don't know, mental health is linked to employment more and more and I'm sure social media comments certainly do not help. Claude clearly had many other issues outside of AFTV so I don't want to speculate further. It just feels wrong to me, like my passive support of this football enterprise is directly linked to the perversion and even loss of life of others for my entertainment.

 

[Humbolt]

He was obviously a vulnerable person, and people like that shouldn't be on social media platforms.

The fact is, social media is fucking toxic. It's a cess pit of abuse. The government need to do something to make people accountable. Honestly, in 50 years people will look back in amazement at the fact that social media was unregulated to the extent it is.

You simply can't have such a large part of society able to abuse others with anonymity. Twitter is full of pedos, racists etc

About time accounts were tied to your identity.

That is an entirely separate debate and it's not quite as cut and dried as it appears at first glance. There are many legit reasons to want anonymity (whistleblowers, potential gov't reprisals, avoiding work issues if the company has a strict social media policy, etc).

But that's for a different thread...

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

It's time Twitter gets its shit together and ensures individuals are using their real name and profile picture.

These idiot abusers/trolls are more often than not hiding behind an image of a player and a tagline, basically giving them anonymity and no responsibility and feel free to say what they like.

There should also be some form of process in which they need to understand what is not acceptable behaviour.

Whilst I agree, bud. What if perfectly respectful users simply wouldn't dream of putting their real face as their profile picture because, well, they look like I do now?

Why should I be denied access to such platforms just because I would downright refuse to put my freak face out there for the world to see?

My profile pic on Twitter is the same as the one I have on here, while my Facebook profile pic is the same, but with a pic of my kids added behind it.

There's a reason I (and probably many others) wouldn't dream of putting their faces out there for the world to sneer at.