This really is cruel.
Dr Tony Xia, the Chinese businessman who has become Aston Villa’s new owner over the summer, only joined Twitter last week.
But he’s already fallen foul of possibly the oldest Twitter prank going. One which former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan has fallen for more times than he’d care to remember, and one which people will seemingly never tire of springing on unsuspecting public figures.
https://twitter.com/ethanmorleyy/status/625519350099914752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The new Aston Villa owner was asked by a follower to re-tweet a birthday message for “Uncle Jimmy.”
However, the well-meaning Xia was duped into re-tweeting an image of former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile.
The new Villa owner was born in China, spent time in the United States and briefly in England. He was, until Sunday evening, fortunate enough to not have ever heard of Savile and his misdemeanours before.
Xia was soon made aware of the error, and was understandably not best pleased.
Really did not know that man, I thought he was a comedy actor. It was not joke and I don't think it's funny to make this.
— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) July 17, 2016
Villa fans forgave him though, and took aim at the prankster.
An easy mistake to make for a well-meaning person, new to Twitter and British culture. It’s pleasing to see fans of the club take his side over what was clearly just an unfortunate misunderstanding.
