By Chris Wright
So, Steven Taylor just sent this Tweet to four of his Newcastle teammates – all of whom happen to be black gentlemen: Massadio Haidara, Moussa Sissoko, Papiss Cisse and Vurnon Anita…
Footballers, eh? Aren’t they silly?
For what it’s worth, Haidara responded instantly to the criticism being flung Taylor’s way, telling his followers that the group had previously been joking in the dressing room and that it was all just…you guessed it…banter.
Apparently it was all in response to Haidara ribbing Taylor over a photo of him looking baffled while trying to learn French.
@27StevenTaylor Is Just Bander with Papiss , Moussa , Vurn’ and Me . He joke with me 2 min before .
— Massadio Haidara (@MassadioHaidara) November 15, 2013
Banter* .
— Massadio Haidara (@MassadioHaidara) November 15, 2013
All completely innocuous it would be reasonable to assume, though perhaps a little misguided from Taylor if there were any blame to be apportioned.
Cue, hundreds of Retweets and comments from Twitter users instantly becoming incandescently offended on behalf of the four black players in question and bombarding Taylor with messages of the “this is not okay” variety.
We can almost hear Peter Herbert from the Society of Black Lawyers angrily bashing the speed dial number for Sky Sports News Centre’s into his phone as we speak…
UPDATE: Taylor has just issued an apology…
Apologies if my tweet offended anybody.
— Steven Taylor (@27StevenTaylor) November 15, 2013
Case closed. We’re supremely confident that this is the last we’re going to hear of this.