Elon Musk’s social media platform has been slammed after a clumsy translation of details of a car crash on X “killed off” a footballer. West Ham United‘s Michail Antonio had to be freed from his wrecked vehicle by emergency services following a horror car crash in Essex on a Saturday afternoon.
The Premier League player’s club said in a statement that the star was rushed to a central London hospital where he is receiving treatment. The dad-of-four is said to be in stable condition.
Billionaire Elon Musk‘s X became involved in the crash when the platform “killed off” the Premier League footballer by way of a clumsy translation of a French media outlet’s post. X’s translation of L’Equipe’s post wrongly read: “West Ham striker Michail Antonio dies in serious car accident”
The national French daily sports newspaper edited their post after realising the social media platform’s mistake. They wrote in a comment under the post: “This post was edited due to a misleading translation by X”.
One user wrote under the post: “The actual translation is ‘West Ham striker Michail Antonio involved in serious car accident’, not the one that Twitter gives you.”
Another said: “What’s this translation”. While a third said: “Lost in translation, that’s not what the OP [original post] actually says.”
West Ham issued a statement on that Saturday, saying: “We can confirm that Michail Antonio is in a stable condition following a road traffic accident in the Essex area. Michail is conscious and communicating and is currently under close supervision at a central London hospital.
“The thoughts and prayers of everyone at the club are with Michail, his family and friends. The club will make no further comment this evening but issue a further update in due course.”
Meanwhile, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service mentioned: “Crews were called at 1.02pm. Firefighters reported that a man was trapped in his car and worked to release him by 1.45pm. The casualty was left in the care of the Ambulance Service.”
Antonio was set to play for West Ham in their crucial Monday night game against Wolves as both teams struggle near the bottom of the Premier League table.
Born in Wandsworth, the star player kicked off his career with West Ham in 2015, racking up 323 appearances for the team since then.
