Star Sports backtracks on ‘racist’ Abbott tweet
Star Sports has apologised after a tweet showing a man dressed as black Labour MP Diane Abbott at the PDC World Darts Championships led to accusations of racism.
The original post showed a man in a wig with a blackened face and holding up a sign reading ‘190’ – a comical reference to the Shadow Home Secretary’s mathematical blunders during this year’s General Election campaign and the maximum score in darts, 180.
The bookmaker initially refused to apologise despite an outcry led by Abbott’s parliamentary colleagues Stella Creasy and David Lammy. Creasy accused Star Sports of “promoting casual racism”, while Lammy tweeted that “racism and misogyny is not a laughing matter”.
However, in a post on Sunday, Star Sports said: “On Friday evening we tweeted a photo taken at the darts featuring a member of the audience dressed in a Diane Abbott costume.
“It was not meant to cause offense (sic) with the humorous element in our eyes being the '190' scribbled on the sign.
“We have since removed the photo and would like to apologise to all those who were offended by it.”
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