Savills vows to carry out a full investigation into an alleged employee's xenophobic football Twitter post.
Savills – one of the world’s leading property agents – has pledged to take ‘action’ against a staff member who allegedly posted a racist tweet about England football players, following last night’s Euro 2020 defeat.
The tweet – which used the n-word – sought to blame England’s loss on the team’s black players. The tweeter shares the same name and likeness to a Savills’ member of staff.
Following widespread anger online in response to the tweet, the Twitter account has been deleted.
Appropriate action promised
In a phone call with Left Foot Forward this morning, the estate agent said: “Savills was aware of the situation and appropriate action is being taken.”
A screenshot of the tweet was widely circulated and condemned on social media with people asking if the man in question represents the views and values of Savills.
In response to the rampant outrage the tweet created, Savills posted a tweet which read:
“Savills is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity among our workforce. A full investigation will be carried out in regards to this unacceptable incident.”
The tweet was followed by a second post from Savills on the matter, stating:
“Savills abhors and has zero tolerance to any form of racism and racial discrimination and is appalled by the racist comments in these tweets. Savills is immediately investigating and will take appropriate action.”
Despite the estate agent’s claims, shocked and angered members of the public took to Twitter questioning Savills’ recruitment practices.
“What checks do @Savills carry out before employing anyone? When I recruit, I check candidates social media etc., why can’t you?” one Twitter user wrote.
Calls to remove barriers through more BAME employees
Another challenged the property agent to declare they will commit to increasing BAME employees throughout their organisation and remove barriers.
“Diversity starts at the top of your board. If you aren’t diverse then you attract people like this by default. You need to act as well as telling us all,” they wrote.
This sickening tweet is one example of a barrage of racist abuse England’s black football players have been subjected to after missing penalties in last night’s defeat to Italy.
Within minutes of Bukayo Saka’s penalty being saved, the 19-year-old was sent racist abuse to his Instagram account, which was swamped with monkey emojis.
Social media corporations need to do more
Similar to Savills coming under fire for recruitment monitoring methods, social media companies are being called into account for their monitoring practices, with calls being made for more to be done to weed out the perpetrators of such appalling abuse.
Labour MP Stella Creasy is amongst those calling for more to be done by social media companies to monitor accounts:
“I hope @twitter, @Facebook and @Instagram don’t expect Southgate, Rashford, Saka and Sancho to have to report the abuse they face – they should be monitoring their accounts directly and acting to kick out those idiots who would abuse such lions to our country,” Creasy tweeted.
HOPE not hate, the advocacy group that campaigns against racism and fascism, shared similar demands, tweeting:
“Horrendous abuse over night piled on players who gave their all and did England fans proud. We stand with them, and @England are right that social media firms must do more to stamp this out. This is why the players take the knee.”
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a freelance journalist and contributing editor to Left Foot Forward.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.