West Ham United: Jarrod Bowen apologises for historical tweet

Jarrod Bowen scored West Ham's second goal in their 3-3 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League last weekend

A tweet containing a racist term which was posted by West Ham winger Jarrod Bowen in 2012 is being investigated by the Football Association.

Bowen, who was 15 at the time of the post, has apologised for "an offensive and immature tweet".

"I wish to apologise unreservedly for the unacceptable content of that post, especially to all connected with West Ham United," said the 24-year-old.

The FA said it was "aware" of the tweet and "looking into" the circumstances.

Bowen, who began his professional career at Hereford as a 17-year-old, played for Hull City before joining West Ham in 2020.

"This is not an example I wish to set and it certainly does not portray the values and principles that I hold," said the Englishman.

West Ham said they "take matters of this nature extremely seriously" and had spoken to Bowen, with the issue to be "dealt with internally".

"Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of West Ham United, and our zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination is embedded across the club," said a Hammers spokesperson.

The FA's investigation will consider a number of factors - including the date of the post and what Bowen was doing at the time - before deciding whether or not to take further action.

In April 2019, Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury was fined £5,000 by the FA and ordered to attend an educational course for historical social media posts.

Choudhury, 23, was also a teenager when he made the comments between June 2013 and May 2014 and not yet playing professionally.