Social media has rallied behind Carlton star Tayla Harris after Channel 7 deleted a stunning photo taken by photographer Michael Wilson in the wake of disgusting comments.
On Tuesday night, the AFLW free-to-air broadcasters took the photo, which was taken during the Blues three-point win over the Western Bulldog, off their social and released a statement as to why they made the decision.
“Recently we published an image of AFLW player Tayla Harris,” 7AFL said on Twitter.
“The original purpose in publishing the image was to celebrate the power, athleticism and skills on show in Carlton’s thrilling win over the Western Bulldogs.
“The image attracted a number of comments, some of which were inappropriate and offensive. As a consequence we have removed the image and the comments.”
But the decision by Channel 7 sparked outrage among those on social media, particularly Twitter, where fans, athletes and media from all codes have had their say.
Most people were upset that the decision was made to delete the photo instead of monitoring the comments and deleting the ones which were inappropriate and offensive.
You could've, you know, just deleted the offensive comments and banned the dropkicks who made them
— Thingy McThingface (@McThingface) March 19, 2019
Moderate your posts. Take responsibility. You publish it? You own the comments. Shame on you.
— Fiona Lamb (@fionalamby) March 19, 2019
Why did you not remove the disgusting comments? Why did you remove the picture? There was absolutely nothing wrong with that
— Zia Hakimi 🥚 (@ZiaHakimi2) March 19, 2019
The photo continued to be spread far and wide with Harris herself making a comment.
Here’s a pic of me at work... think about this before your derogatory comments, animals. pic.twitter.com/68aBVVbTTj
— Tayla Harris (@taylaharriss) March 19, 2019
Geelong vice-captain Patrick Dangerfield also came out in support of Harris along with Olympian Anna Meares and Fox Footy presenter Neroli Meadows.
🙌🏻🙌🏻💪🏻💪🏻 #Fthehaters pic.twitter.com/wkaGFzncZ2
— Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) March 19, 2019
The original photo has been re-tweeted over 500 times and has more than 3,000 likes.
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