The England international Marcus Rashford is the latest high-profile Premier League player to be targeted by racist online, and his abuse came after he missed goalscoring opportunities in Manchester United’s game against Arsenal on Saturday night, January 30.
This week, Manchester United called for social media companies to improve their monitoring of social media abuse after racists abused Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial in the wake of the team’s 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United in midweek.
Chelsea defender, Reece James also posted screenshots of abuse he received on Instagram, leading to his club releasing a statement condemning the attacks.
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Marcus Rashford, MBE, 24, took to Twitter on Saturday night after his side’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal to blast those who have targeted him, saying he will not dignify them by posting their racist comments online.
“Humanity and social media at its worst. Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here,” he wrote.
“I’m not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there’s nothing original in them. I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated.”
United coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined in the condemnation of racists online, saying at a press conference after the match:
“It’s just incredible we have these scenes still, this abuse in 2021.
“We’ve been campaigning for a long time now with the Premier League and I think it’s working, but there are still some people that haven’t got it.
“They hide behind social media, are anonymous and it’s unacceptable, it’s disgusting.
“The players and everyone we’ve spoken to, each other, and they’re fine, to put it that way. They’re not Manchester United fans when this happens. We’re all standing behind every single one of our players.”
