EA has issued a lifetime ban to 18-year-old FIFA player ‘Patrick O’Brien’, who sent over 20 abusive messages to a former soccer player and Arsenal legend ‘Ian Wright’ on Instagram in May 2020, after losing an Ultimate Team game with player’s virtual version.
O’Brien was charged by the Irish judge for this incident and spared him from a criminal conviction last month. O’Brien has apologized to Wright and made a donation to the Irish Network Against Racism. Ian Wright has also forgiven the 18-year-old and issued a statement on Twitter which you can see below:
O’Brien will not be spending his life in prison for his abuse messages, but has to deal with the consequences of his actions, as EA Sports has now issued a lifetime ban to him for this incident. And EA’s FIFA brand vice president, David Jackson, told Eurogamer in a statement that:
“We hugely value [Ian Wright’s] partnership and support, and we also want him to know he has our support. This behavior by the player was unacceptable on every level, and we will not tolerate it. Our Positive Play Charter guides our actions in a situation like this, and we’ve taken the action to ban the player permanently from playing or accessing our games. Racism must stop. We are committed to continuing our work in positive play, through actions that will make our communities fun, fair, and safe for everyone.”
Many other UK-based soccer players also receive this kind of abuse and racism over Instagram, EA has stated last month, and that it will take “tougher action” over this type of harassment. As said by Ian Wright this kind of incident shows “people behind the social media platforms were not doing enough.”