Thread by @FreedomFriesInc

(1) Football (soccer) is huge in the UK, esp. in England. All the major clubs have ardent fans around the world, including @Arsenal, with a fans' YouTube channel @AFTVmedia.

Former AFTV personality Claude Callegari died two days ago aged 58.

AFTV had dropped him in 2020.

(2) Fans of #RIPClaude have said he was open a few years ago about having mental health struggles. Later, he he was fired after making a racist comment on a livestream in July 2020. More recently, he fended off hateful tweets & alluded to thoughts of suicide.

(3) It appears he died by suicide.

Kudos to @max69752565 for tweeting these suicide hotline numbers for various countries.

It's good practice to provide these whenever you write about the issue. I support talking about it; others claim it's better not to. IMO they are wrong.

(4) You might be wondering what the firing comment was. TIL that some people refer to Asians as DVD, a reference to making bootleg copies of DVDs and selling them at market stalls.

bbc.com/news/newsbeat-…

extra.ie/2020/07/16/spo…

(5) I can see why referring to Asians with "DVD" is considered a slur. There are no doubt similar terms used in many countries to refer to various racial or ethnic groups. The player has South Korean heritage.

The slur was noted as far back as 2005:

thefootballnetwork.net/main/s346/st65…

(6) AFTV made this 5-tweet statement about the slur at the time:

https://twitter.com/ItsDonRobbie/status/1283176326619373574

(7) And made this statement today. They are getting a lot of criticism today, which I think is unfair. They did their best to help him and were caught between a rock and hard place.

It's overly simplistic to blame anyone for Claude's tragic death.

https://twitter.com/ItsDonRobbie/status/1376876745593327616

(8) And it's a cop-out to say it was solely due to having depression. Suicide is not straightforward thing. Casting blame around doesn't really help.

I've lost people to suicide. It's normal for everyone who was close to the person to blame yourself. You have to fight that.

(9) Eventually I realized there was nothing I could have done to prevent those suicides.

The pandemic itself is likely to be a major factor in any suicide occurring in the past year and next couple of years. It has rocked peoples' world.

(10) The pandemic is causing suicides directly and indirectly.

Unemployment for any reason is associated with depression, often in people who have never had it before. Especially men, and especially those over 40.

Professional help is patchy, at best.

(11) Research shows that better access to high quality talk therapy and medications can lower suicide rates. But accessing these services has become more difficult in many places, because of the pandemic.

NZ's suicide rate was trending upward fast, even before the pandemic.

(12) In my experience, where suicide is the result of depression or other illness, the person has reached the end of what _they_ see as their options for relief from the pain they're in.

Sometimes it's due to severe illness like mania or psychosis. Loss of touch with reality.

(13) I experienced suicidal thinking as a young adult. Eventually I overcame it and now at around 50 I can offer (amateur) support to those going through it, or their loved ones. I have to come to really appreciate being alive and making the most of that, despite challenges.

(14) It's just an extremely sad situation, for Claude and everyone who loved, liked, and appreciated him.

RIP, big guy.