Chelsea fan sentenced to prison for anti-Semitic tweets

Press Association

Chelsea fan sentenced to eight weeks in prison for anti-Semitic tweets aimed at Tottenham supporters

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 11/5/21

It's been a tough week for world football fans who use social media to direct racist messages at athletes and fellow supporters.

Per PA Media (h/t Sky Sports), 21-year-old Chelsea fan Nathan Blagg was sentenced Friday to eight weeks in prison after pleading guilty to sending offensive tweets over a period between Sept. 29, 2020, and Feb. 5 of this year. The anti-Semitic tweets aimed at Tottenham Hotspur fans included "photos of Auschwitz and a man doing a Nazi salute," per the story.

"Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz," a chant directed toward Tottenham supporters over the years, was among Blagg's messages:

Blagg claimed the tweets were "banter between mates."

"Quite frankly, the content of these messages was despicable," District Judge Michael Hamilton explained. "References to the holocaust and other matters cannot on any view ever be categorized a banter."

Chelsea responded to the ruling via an official statement:

We welcome the outcome of this case and the resulting custodial sentence.

As a Club, we will continue to work closely with the police and support the prosecution of such offences to show that posting hateful and abusive content has consequences.
#NoToHate #SayNoToAntisemitism https://t.co/R8LEvWoOPG
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 5, 2021

"Nathan Blagg thought hiding behind a screen could shield him from the consequences of posting hateful and abusive content," Kalsoom Shah of the Crown Prosecution Service added, according to the BBC. "That is absolutely not the case."

Earlier this week, 52-year-old Jonathon Best was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison after he used Facebook to racially abuse England's Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following the UEFA European Championship final.

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