Nicholas Latifi he will be cursing that incident that took him to the Abu Dhabi barrier. Not so much for having him close his World Championship five laps in advance, but for having started the Safety Car chaos with race director Michael Masi who then recalled the safety car to the pits on the penultimate lap, allowing Max Verstappen to attacking Lewis Hamilton and winning the first title of his career.
It is boring and surprising that, one step away from 2022, we still have to talk about hate messages and death threats to the detriment of an athlete or any other person, but this is what happened to the Canadian, yet another proof that the world is full of freaks and never enough is done to fight them. Latifi did it with full class, with a social release after days of silence.
A message from me after the events of Abu Dhabi https://t.co/uYj7Ct6ANQ pic.twitter.com/eThFec8nAi
– Nicholas Latifi (@NicholasLatifi) December 21, 2021
“Hi everyone, I have purposely been away from social media to let things settle down after the events of the last race. Much has been said about the situation that arose after my retreat in Abu Dhabi. I have received thousands of messages on my social media accounts – publicly and privately. Most of it was supportive, but there was also a lot hate And abuse. I tried to figure out what was the best way to handle it. Ignore and go ahead? Or do I face the bigger problem that is sadly a reality when using social media? This is not a planned statement, but it is I who say what I think, in the hope that this will spark another debate on online bullying and the consequences it can have on people. Using social media to attack someone with messages of hate, abuse and threats of violence is shocking. As soon as the race ended, I knew how things could turn out on social media. I thought it would be better to delete Instagram and Twitter from my phone for a few days, and that says a lot about how cruel social media can be. These messages came as no surprise to me, but I was shocked by the extreme tone of hatred, abuse and even death threats that I received“.
“I have broad shoulders, but a lot of the comments I received last week were over the top. It worries me how someone else might react if they were given this kind of abuse“, Continued the Canadian. “The events of the last week have made me realize how important it is to work together to stop this and to support those who receive these messages. I realize that I am unlikely to convince those who have acted in this way towards me to change their ways – and they might even try to use this message against me – but it is right to report this type of behavior and not remain silent.“.
Stay strong @NicholasLatifi. We stand with you in the fight against online hate and abuse. 💪
– Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@ MercedesAMGF1) December 21, 2021
The same Mercedes, the great sports ‘victim’ of the Abu Dhabi events, sided with the Canadian: “Be strong, Nicholas. We are by your side in the fight against hate and online abuse“.
#Latifichoc #Threatened #death #Abu #Dhabi #FormulaPassionit