Moderator defends himself

Death threats! Hojlund interview causes trouble

Rasmus Hojlund

(Bild: APA/AFP/Oli SCARFF)

That backfired! Ex-Sturm player and current Man United professional Rasmus Hojlund gave an interview to a fan channel on YouTube. When the video was published, the operator of the channel received death threats. The police launched an investigation.

Weeks ago, Hojlund and Mark Goldbridge, owner of the channel "The United Stand" (1.8 million subscribers), met to determine a number of topics that the Dane could talk about. Among other things, about his exit clause at Manchester.

When the video was published, disaster struck. Hojlund's team-mates were not exactly happy that he had spoken to Goldbridge, wrote the Daily Mail. The presenter is said to have been very critical of the Red Devils in the past. Goldbridge and his staff even received death threats. The police launched an investigation.

Goldbridge has since commented on the precarious situation: "I fully understand that soccer is a passionate and controversial sport and that people are free to choose what content they consume."

He continued: "But the attacks that some of our employees were subjected to at the weekend are incredibly sad. Threatening people's lives once again proves the vile pack mentality that exists on social media."

"Could have prevented it"
Goldbridge also rejected accusations that Hojlund's teammates or the club were not happy about the interview. "It took months to prepare this interview. Everyone at the club knew about it, the player and others were there on a training day at Carrington, we were there all morning. If someone had wanted to stop it, they could have. The players and the manager get a list of media briefs every week. They all know what's going on.

The video with Hojlund was viewed around 500,000 times within a month.