British Army investigating ‘racist’ tweet to Lily Allen
A Twitter user claiming to be serving in the British Army has sent an allegedly racist tweet to Lily Allen.
Earlier today, Harry Wilson sent the following message to the singer (@lilyrosecooper) who has 3.5 million followers:
Allen subsequently complained to the British Army indicating that Wilson should be "disciplined". Wilson initially retweeted reaction to his comment. Several Twitter users suggested that his failure to include punctuation in his message – a comma or full stop after the word ‘bought’ – was responsible for people regarding the tweet as ‘racist’.
Wilson was unapologetic and felt he had done nothing wrong. A few Twitter users rallied to his cause tweeting the phrase: "WE ARE ALL @harrywil2010 only 1 HARRY Wilson !!!! haha." Others were less sympathetic.
Wilson also commented on the incident on his Facebook profile including a screenshot from his Twitter account displayed on a smartphone.
The British Army says it is investigating the incident and is working to ascertain whether Harry Wilson is currently serving in the Armed Forces.
Wilson’s Twitter biography claimed that he was a member of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 Scots). He also had a disclaimer on his Twitter account stating that it represented his "own views" and not those of the British Army or the Ministry of Defence.
The MoD said "appropriate action" would be taken if Wilson was currently serving in the British Army and added that "racism of any kind is completely unacceptable".
Later in the afternoon, Wilson’s Twitter and Facebook profiles were taken down.