Andrew Bone, commercial building manager at Savills, posted tweets with racial slurs after the penalty shootout of last night’s England match against Italy.
Black players Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford missed their penalty shots while Bukayo Saka’s was saved, leading Italy to their win.
Through his now deleted account Bone_andrew, the Savills employee tweeted: “N***ers ruined it for us.”
A secondary account, Picofru which has Bone as the display picture and the screen name ‘Andie Jones’, was also discovered to have offensive tweets.
One included the message: “Brit wifes gonna catch lotta lefts today [sic]”, seemingly referencing domestic abuse. It also had the post, “They dragged this lad like a runaway slave,” in relation to Italian player Giorgio Chiellini pulling Saka by the shirt during the game.
Labour MP David Lammy was among those condemning Bone’s posts today.
Posting screenshots of the messages, Lammy tweeted: “This is why we take the knee. Praying for a better future – worthy of the values, beauty and respect exemplified by every single England player.”
Author and activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu tweeted: “See this guy – who is he? Report him to @twitter and @metpoliceuk. Whoever his employer is must fire him. If he runs a business, make it your business to never use his services.
“He must be prosecuted and convicted. Being a racist has consequences.”
Others alerted Savills to the tweets and called for him to be fired.
This morning, the firm posted on its Twitter account, saying: “Savills is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. A full investigation will be carried out in regards to this unacceptable incident.”
The firm also issued the statement: “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.”
It has not been confirmed whether Bone is still employed by Savills but his profile no longer appears on the company’s employee page.
UPDATE
This afternoon, Savills issued an updated statement indicating Bone’s Twitter account had been taken over by a third party and was now under investigation by the police.
The company said: “Savills confirms that the staff member connected with the racist comments placed on Twitter claims that his account was taken over by a third party and that the matter is being referred to the Greater Manchester Police.
“Savills has acted swiftly and confirms that the individual is suspended from duty pending the findings of this investigation, which is being progressed as a priority. Savills has a policy of zero tolerance on any form of racial abuse or discrimination.”
