The Specials' Neville Staple has page removed by Facebook "over skinhead links"
Former The Specials vocalist Neville Staple has accused Facebook of wrongly removing his page “over skinhead links,” the BBC reports. Neville and his wife and manager Christine say they were among hundreds who had their profiles deactivated when Facebook cracked down on racism on the platform in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police. Rooting out pages that related to skinhead culture, they reportedly seized on ska and 2 tone as well.
Neville and Christine told the BBC they were “astounded” when they discovered the reason for their deletion, calling racism “the complete opposite of what we were about.”
“We’re the 2 Tone era, we came about when racial tensions were nuts – a bit like what we’re going though now,” Christine said. “We were all about bringing black and white together.”
“They’ve clearly not looked into 2 Tone,” she continued. “It was all about change – we’ve got skinheads, rudies… a whole range of fans out there.”
Facebook has since reinstated the profiles, saying they were “removed in error.”
#FacebookDisabled @Facebook has disabled hundreds (probably thousands) of accounts tonight! Mine @NevilleStaple & @No1SkaMama too. Lockdown of the mind! 😉 @facebookapp @FacebookAppDev @fbnewsroom pic.twitter.com/cJ1OHZR2Vs
— Sugary Staple (@SugaryStaple) June 9, 2020
Caca faat! You couldn't make it up!! My wife @SugaryStaple & I get banned for 24 hours – no explanation or apology. The World has gone nuts!https://t.co/gmFjrB0Yzb
— From THE SPECIALS Neville Staple (@NevilleStaple) June 10, 2020