While many athletes have seen blowback for social media posts, it’s stranger to see that for a team owner’s LinkedIn shares. That’s what happened Sunday, though, when MLS and the Los Angeles Football Club put out a joint statement condemning posts LAFC co-owner Ruben Gnanalingam (who’s also the majority owner of English Football League Championship side Queen’s Park Rangers) shared on that platform:
A statement from Major League Soccer and Los Angeles Football Club. pic.twitter.com/uncGtwBBAf
— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) February 10, 2025
It’s unclear just how much of LAFC Gnanalingam owns. He is listed as a “director and owner” amongst their 25 partners, but is not one of the three people listed with “managing owner” or “co-managing owner” roles. By contrast, he owns almost 60 percent of QPR.
The posts in question here weren’t written by Gnanalingam, but were shared on his LinkedIn page. They first came to wide light through a piece published at The Jewish Chronicle Friday, written by Jane Prinsley. Here’s some of what Prinsley wrote about the content Gnanalingam shared (most of which can’t be seen now that he’s deactivated his account):
The stream of posts on Gnanalingam’s profile – which boasts nearly 12,000 followers – have been unearthed by investigative group GnasherJew and shared exclusively with the JC. All are reposts of content from other LinkedIn accounts, with none written by Gnanalingam’s himself
One repost on the club owner’s feed reads: “The State of Israel must be dismantled.” Another features a protest placard that states: “Brave Muslims of the world, what are you waiting for? Crush Zionism once and for all.” A separate post calls for the “Zi0 entity” to be dismantled and urges “#ArmiesToAqsa.”
…Another declares, “Arabs wake-up so this will not [be] the future of your kids !!!!! Sionists [sic] have plans for more genocides !!!!!! Arabs need to be back [in] power in the world as they used to be, to stop them!!”
A further repost refers to the mob violence against Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last November, saying: “A pogrom?? Go f*** yourself.”
“I am proud to see the complete & total rejection of fascist Nazi Zionism in our streets. There’s an *actual* Zionist holocaust against Palestine right now & per usual, Zionists are committed to playing the victim.”
As per Jeff Rueter of The Athletic, Gnanalingam apologized Sunday in a statement sent through LAFC:
“I deeply regret that content shared on my social media account has caused distress and concern,” he said. “It was never my intention to offend or harm anyone, and I take responsibility for not exercising greater caution before sharing these posts. I sincerely apologize to those affected, including my colleagues, friends, and family. As someone who values unity, diversity, and respect for all people, I take full responsibility for my actions and have since removed the reposts.
“I have decided to step away from social media for the foreseeable future to focus on my professional responsibilities and ensure my communication reflects the values and high standards expected of me as a global business leader,” Gnanalingam continued. “I am committed to learning from this and working closely with MLS, LAFC, QPR, and other organizations to ensure I handle matters of public communication with greater care in the future.”
It’s interesting to see MLS and LAFC “strongly condemn” a co-owner’s social media behavior. And that’s perhaps especially notable in an era where different leagues and broadcasters are leaning more into not pushing back on controversial or offensive speech. We’ll see if the MLS review of this situation leads to anything more, and if there’s any action from the EFL.
