A case of mistaken identity for journalist David Whelan

Being mistaken for someone else is quite common, the more so when you carry the same name as someone.

However journalist David Whelan, has had a few days riddled with abuse on social media site Twitter in a serious case of mistaken identity.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Whelan, a journalist for the Guardian and blogger for the Huffington Post, explained how events unfolded:

“It was around 6pm when I received the first text of the night, a friend asking me to go out. This was quickly followed by texts from my family and from a pizza chain. Very droll stuff.” he said.

“All of a sudden the texts started to take a drastic change. ‘What the hell have you done?’ people were asking me, over text and on Facebook. My Twitter mentions started going nuts.”

What quickly transpired was that Whelan, journalist and blogger, was being insulted and tormented for the actions of Wigan Athletic Football Club owner David Whelan.

This was following comments that the latter had made regarding Jewish and Chinese people, while defending his new manager Malky Mackay.

The 77 year old multimillionaire told the Guardian: “I think Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else.”

In the interview he added: “If any Englishmen said he has never called a Chinaman a ‘chink’ he is lying. There is nothing bad about doing that. It is like calling the British ‘Brits’, or the Irish ‘Paddies’.”

These comments led to journalist Whelan accumulating more than 100 Twitter followers in a short space of time, and a timeline filled with abuse such as “Adolph Whelan”, “keep your mouth shut cocksucker”, “racist scum!!!”, “u absolute moron” and other such jibes such as Whelan having a “chink in his armour”.

Although Whelan was less than impressed with being mistaken for the under-fire football owner, he did manage to see the funny side of it: “I picked up about 100 followers from his comments. Let’s think about that. Someone in Wigan calls Jewish people money-hungry and I, in London, grow,” he said.

The football club owner later apologised for his comments in an interview with the BBC:  “If I have upset any single person, I apologise profusely.”