Liverpool, Man United Shun Grok’s Offensive Responses On Hillsborough, Munich Disasters - Report

Last Updated:March 08, 2026, 19:57 IST

Liverpool and Man United raised concerns with X over offensive responses from Grok, referencing Hillsborough, Munich air disasters, and false claims about Diogo Jota.

It’s hardly a secret that X (formerly Twitter) can be a chaotic corner of the internet: a place where almost anything can be posted as long as it stays within the platform’s evolving rules.

But now two of England’s biggest football clubs have had enough.

Liverpool and Manchester United have reportedly raised concerns with X over a series of offensive responses generated by the platform’s AI chatbot Grok, which referenced some of football’s most painful tragedies — including the Hillsborough disaster, the Munich air disaster, and the recent death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota.

Grok, launched by Elon Musk in 2023, allows users to ask questions or request content from the AI assistant. However, the tool has already faced controversy in the past, including an incident last year in which it appeared to question the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

According to a report by The Athletic, the latest backlash stems from a series of posts generated over the weekend after users prompted Grok to create offensive content about Liverpool and Manchester United.

In one case, Grok responded to prompts attempting to demonise Liverpool supporters by suggesting they were responsible for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 97 fans.

The claims directly contradict the findings of a 2016 inquest, which ruled that the victims were unlawfully killed and confirmed that fan behaviour did not contribute to the disaster.

Grok also generated responses about Diogo Jota, the Liverpool forward who tragically died aged 28 in a car crash alongside his brother Andre Silva in July. When prompted by a user to “vulgarly roast the brother killer Diogo Jota," the chatbot produced a response falsely accusing the player of murdering his brother, alongside a string of explicit remarks.

In another instance, a user asked Grok to “really try to offend" Manchester United supporters. The chatbot then produced vulgar comments referencing the 1958 Munich air disaster, when a plane carrying Sir Matt Busby’s Manchester United team crashed, killing 23 people, including eight players and three officials.

All of the users who prompted the chatbot in these cases appeared to conceal their identities through anonymous usernames.

News sports football Liverpool, Man United Shun Grok’s Offensive Responses On Hillsborough, Munich Disasters - Report

Read More