Juventus apologise for China “suicide” condolence message
The Italian champions came under fire after posting a message on Chinese social media about the apparent suicide of a fan, which turned out to be untrue.
Italian Serie A Champions Juventus have apologized for posting a message on Chinese social media about the apparent suicide of a fan, which was later exposed as untrue.
I Bianconeri came under fire after posting a message of condolence on China’s Twitter-like Weibo in response to a post on the platform claiming that a fan committed suicide following a row online about Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, Weibo user “Juventus changing room cleaning lady” – whose real name remains unknown – was reported alive and unharmed after Chinese police tracked her down.
Juventus under fire
The team’s message has drawn about 40 million views and generated thousands of comments online.
In a statement to AFP, Juventus said: 'The agency in charge of Juventus social media accounts on Chinese digital platforms did a mistake by believing in what has then been revealed to be fake news, and we apologise for this.'
However, this apology didn’t placate some Juventus’s Chinese fans.
“Yes, you were also fooled,” wrote one Weibo user. “But if you have this title, at least understand that every word you say represents the image of the club”.