Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli said he was “betrayed” by a friend who sold a private Snapchat video of him mocking coronavirus – an act that has landed him a one-match ban.
Alli will miss his side’s first Premier League game of the restart against Manchester United next week after the Football Association finally delivered its ruling on a case that has been ongoing since February.
He has also been handed a £50,000 fine and must attend an educational course after being found guilty of an “aggravated breach” of Rule E3, which included a reference to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin and/or nationality .
The 24-year-old posted a video of himself wearing a mask in an airport lounge on February 6 before zooming in on an Asian man, with the caption “Corona whattttt, please listen with volume”.
The video was promptly deleted and Alli posted an apology, but not before one of the 160 recipients on his close friends list on Snapchat had copied it and sold it to a national newspaper.
The FA did not rule that thought the England international was a racist and believed he was telling the truth, but did use an “unacceptable racist stereotype” and the video was a misguided attempt at humour.
