Jermaine Jenas Fronting Football Trolls Doc

Channel 4 has commissioned Football Trolls, a documentary exploring social media, racism and football, produced by Flicker Productions and fronted by Jermaine Jenas.

Following the deluge of discriminatory and abusive tweets targeted at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling following the Euros final, there have been growing calls for social media companies to address online trolling. For the last six months, Jenas has been tackling these issues, confronting the trolls themselves, interviewing Premier League footballers on the receiving end of the abuse and discussing his own personal experiences.

Jenas said: “This film is incredibly important to me and something I’ve been working on for a while. There has been an ongoing conversation surrounding racism and football for as long as I can remember, and the reactions to the Euros has been heartbreaking. I’ve felt sick to my stomach reading the comments and chants, and promise to make it my mission to help create positive change… @instagram @twitter @facebook and all the other social platforms out there, we have to hold these trolls accountable, we have to do better.”

Louisa Compton, head of news and current affairs and sport for Channel 4, said: “In this timely, bold and much needed film, Jermaine Jenas will tackle the issue head on by confronting the people hiding behind their Twitter profiles and trying to get answers from the tech giants themselves. This hard-hitting investigation is another example of Channel 4 examining the big issues that affect the U.K.”