{"id":38126,"date":"2025-11-19T00:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/38126\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T00:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:42:12","slug":"philadelphia-unions-ernst-tanner-accused-of-racist-homophobic-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/38126\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Union’s Ernst Tanner accused of racist, homophobic behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Philadelphia Union executive is alleged to have made numerous racist, sexist and homophobic comments and has also been accused of inappropriate workplace behavior during his seven years with the MLS organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Union sporting director Ernst Tanner was the subject of a lengthy complaint filed by the MLS Players Association to the league, according to The Guardian<\/a>, which highlighted a number of instances \u2013 including some not in the complaint \u2013 in a bombshell report published on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The complaint by the MLS Players Association was filed in January and described as \u201cwide-ranging\u201d in Tuesday\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Guardian reported that 17 sources have alleged misconduct over the span of Tanner\u2019s time with the club, which began in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner speaks to media members about league rule changes at the Hilton Hotel. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con<\/p>\n

In one instance, which occurred during a June 10, 2023, match in San Jose, Tanner allegedly shouted a homophobic slur toward a referee.<\/p>\n

After referee Nima Saghafi touched then-San Jose midfielder Jamiro Monteiro while leading the player to the bench, Tanner allegedly shouted: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you just kiss him, you f\u2014-t.\u201d<\/p>\n

A witness told The Guardian that \u201c20 people must\u2019ve heard this\u201d and that there \u201cwas a woman in the stands who was clearly horrified.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In another alleged incident, Tanner is said to have told Union academy players in 2018 that the only time they need to worry about a referee is if they are a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen should be in the kitchen, not being referees,\u201d Tanner said, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Among the issues that were raised in the report, Tanner is alleged to have spoken about black players \u201clike they were subhuman\u201d and suggested that black referees \u201clack intelligence and capability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tanner is alleged to have inappropriately touched a co-worker \u201cnumerous times,\u201d with the report indicating it was on the person\u2019s buttocks, which was reported to Philadelphia\u2019s human resources department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has denied the allegations, and a legal representative told The Guardian that Tanner \u201cdid not inappropriately touch a colleague.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over a dozen current and former Union employees told the outlet that complaints about Tanner\u2019s behavior were made to the club\u2019s HR department. But none had seen any evidence that there was any response.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know many people feel that stuff that has gone to HR has a way of getting buried,\u201d one source told the Guardian. \u201cEverybody always said \u2014 \u2018Guys, all you can do is report things to HR.\u2019 But sometimes it felt like anyone who reported s\u2013t to our HR department just ended up getting pushed out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MLSMLS Season Pass host Tony Cherchi, Todd Durbin of MLS, and Ali Curtis of MLS NEXT Pro, listen as Ernst Tanner of the Philadelphia Union speaks during a preview of the new studio set for MLS Season Pass program \u201cMLS 360\u201d during a media introduction in New York City in February 2023. USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

\u201cErnst Tanner firmly denies these accusations,\u201d Tanner said in a statement to The Guardian. \u201cSome of which are six or seven years old. Over the past seven years as the sporting director of the Philadelphia Union, Mr Tanner\u2019s strong and savvy leadership has helped the Union win two Supporters Shields and an Eastern Conference title.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to the outlet, the Union said Tanner had made \u201cpotentially insensitive gender-based comments early in his tenure\u201d and that he had \u201cunderwent training and had discussions with club leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Union denied knowing the allegations made in the MLS complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MLS, the MLSPA and the Union have not immediately responded\u00a0to requests from The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philadelphia Union takes all allegations of misconduct extremely seriously and is unwavering in our commitment to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all players, staff, and members of our community,\u201d the statement also said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MLS did not corroborate the allegations, according to The Guardian, but Tanner was made to go through a remedial program on professional workplace conduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report comes as the Union prepare to face New York City FC in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Sunday at Subaru Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Philadelphia Union executive is alleged to have made numerous racist, sexist and homophobic comments and has also…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11616,69,71,70,10227,11868,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-38126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-mls","9":"tag-philadelphia","10":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","11":"tag-philadelphia-news","12":"tag-philadelphia-union","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}