Following Wednesday’s defeat by Villarreal in the Europa League final, Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford said he been subjected to “at least 70 racial slurs” on social media.
“At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far,” Rashford tweeted.
“For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying.”
“I’m more outraged that one of the abusers that left a mountain of monkey emojis in my DM is a maths teacher with an open profile.
“He teaches children!! And knows that he can freely racially abuse without consequence…”.
United tweeted after the game that players were subjected to “disgraceful racist abuse” and urged users to report any form of abuse or discrimination through their online reporting tool.
It is not the first time Rashford has been the target of social media abuse. In January, Greater Manchester police investigated racist comments sent to the 23-year-old and a number of other players. At the end of April, English football united for a four-day social media boycott to protest inaction over racial abuse on social media.
“Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am,” Rashford wrote after receiving abuse in January. “No one 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.”
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Moreso, a host of players at Premier League clubs have been targeted in the past few months, including United’s Anthony Martial, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, Liverpool’s Trent-Alexander Arnold, and Sadio Mane, and Chelsea’s Reece James.
In February, English football bodies sent an open letter to Facebook and Twitter, urging blocking and swift takedowns of offensive posts, as well as an improved verification process for users.
Instagram has announced new measures and Twitter vowed to continue its efforts after taking action on over 700 cases of abuse related to soccer in Britain in 2019.