Savills, the public property services company, is at the centre of controversy following highly racist tweets purportedly by an employee in the UK.
Twitter users responded with outrage to messages seemingly posted by the employee who suggested the three young England players who missed their penalties in the final of the England v Italy Euro 2020 football final on Sunday evening ‘ruined it for us’, using the N word to describe Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka.
A huge thread developed as Twitter users called for the employee to be instantly dismissed while Savills tweeted its position at 9.48am on Monday, saying: ‘Savills abhors and has zero tolerance to any form of racism and racial discrimination and is appalled by the racist comments in these tweets. Savills is immediately investigating and will take appropriate action.’
The company also said: ‘Savills is committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. A full investigation will be carried out in regard to this unacceptable incident.’
The racist tweet appears to have come from an employee with a LinkedIn profile describing himself as a ‘Commercial building manager’ at Savills in the Manchester area.
However, the situation had not abated by late afternoon despite a company update. Savils said it could confirm that a staff member connected with the racist comments placed on Twitter claimed his account was taken over by a thrid party, and that the matter was being referred to the Greater Manchester police. 'Savills has acted swiftly and confirms the individual is suspended from duty pending the findings of this investigation, which is being processed as a priority.'
That drew some stinging criticism. One twitter user said: 'I realise you have to follow process but there is enough strong evidence of historical tweets to sack him'.
Savills reasserted it had a policy of zero tolerance on any form of racial abuse or discrimination.
