Enric Masip, advisor to FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, announced on Wednesday the closure of his account on the social network X – formerly Twitter – following the controversy over some of his retweets on immigration, gender-based violence or the French elections in which Marine Le Pen’s far-right party won in the first round. “Yesterday there was a certain stir on social media as a result of the activity on Twitter on my account. Due to my position at FC Barcelona and my career as a player in the club that I love, I wish to convey to public opinion that freedom of expression can sometimes come into conflict with the role that one has assigned in the world of work,” Masip posted on his account. And he added, without apologising: “As a consequence of the hustle and bustle experienced and that the messages that I have inserted on my wall have been able to cause discomfort, especially because they have put President Laporta and FC Barcelona in an uncomfortable situation that I would never have wanted to happen, I am sending this message to announce that I am closing my X account.” Currently, his profile on the social network is already deactivated.
“Hundreds of immigrants pray ‘Allah is great’ in the garden of a detention center in Tenerife, Canary Islands. All men of military age. I hope you are aware that the Spain we know will disappear in a decade,” read the content of one of the retweeted messages. “The worst thing is not the acts of the oresthe worst thing is the passivity of the Spanish people watching how their country is destroyed with their tax money. This is how Valencia is and this is how the whole of Spain is! And all of this supported by the progressive consensus of the comfortable and parasitic political class,” read another. Different retweeted messages, in addition, positioned themselves against LGBT rights or questioned sexist violence.
“I am not giving my opinion. I only intend to expose relevant information and situations. I am only expressing what is happening and what is occurring on the street,” Masip defended himself in statements to The newspaper. “I am not against immigration. Legal immigration. Nor am I against the LGTBI community, although there are situations that I do not share and that are a disgrace,” he assured the Catalan media. But the content of Masip’s retweets clashes with the statutes of FC Barcelona. Specifically, two articles included in 2021, which ensure that “diversity and equality must be protected without discrimination on the grounds of race, belief, political or union ideas, language, sex or sexual orientation.” The club’s code of ethics also emphasizes the “responsible use of social networks” by people related to the entity.
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