Marcus Rashford has responded to the vile racial abuse he received on social media by insisting he will not give trolls the ‘strong reaction’ they are looking for.
The Manchester United striker was abused following his side’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Saturday with users posting monkey emojis while one told him to ‘go back to the zoo’.
The 23-year-old is the latest footballer to be targeted after his team-mates Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial suffered abuse earlier this week. Chelsea’s Reece James and West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers also received racist insults on social media.
Marcus Rashford has responded to the vile racial abuse he received on social media
The England international was targeted on Instagram after Man United’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal
Rashford tweeted: ‘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.’
‘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.’
The forward went on to thank Arsenal for the special programme they made for the game which thanked the England international for his work in helping to tackle child food poverty.
The Gunners programme had a picture of Rashford on the front with the heading: ‘Thank you Marcus. From everyone at Arsenal’.
Rashford has campaigned for free school meals and has brought about several Government U-turns which has seen poorer children provided with food during school holidays.
Rashford thanked Arsenal for a special programme they made to honour his charity work
The 23-year-old has campaigned for free school meals with food charity FareShare
In December, he was given a special award at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the year ceremony for his work efforts with food charity FareShare.
Arsenal legend Ian Wright said there are ways for platforms to catch online abusers and insisted they must do more to protect players.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Wright said: ‘It seems to be a fad now, a black player players poorly or think they played poorly and they come with all the emojis.
‘There’s ways of doing it. There’s ways of being able to catch people but I don’t think they’re vigilant enough, nowhere near.’
Fellow pundit Jermaine Jenas added: ‘It’s accountability. In my opinion, the platforms that be, whether it’s Instagram or Twitter, I need them to show me these people. That will tell me they are doing enough, doing everything they possibly can’.
Host Gary Lineker also said it should be a law for social media companies to tackle racial abusers and Wright was in agreement. He said: ‘It should be a law as well. It something they should be doing hand-in-hand. How much do they care deep down?’
United condemned the racist abuse Tuanzebe and Martial received earlier in the week and called on social media platforms ‘strengthen measures’.
Monkey emojis were posted on a picture the defender posted several weeks ago
Axel Tuanzebe received racist abuse on Instagram following Manchester United’s defeat
One comment on Tuanzebe’s Instagram account read ‘DAMNNN N*****’ as well as several monkey emojis on a photograph of his United shirt and number, posted two weeks ago.
A club statement read: ‘Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the racial abuse received by players via social media after last night’s game.
‘We utterly condemn it and it is encouraging to see other fans condemn this on social media also.
‘Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and a long-standing commitment to campaigning against it through our All Red All Equal initiative.
‘Identifying these anonymous mindless idiots remains problematic. We urge social media platforms and regulatory authorities to strengthen measures to prevent this kind of behaviour.’
United’s Director of Communications, Charlie Brooks, said the club’s players are ‘sick’ of the ‘hate-filled’ abuse online and urged social media platforms to create verifiable and identifiable accounts so the perpetrators can be caught.
It was revealed earlier this week that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will be handed fines for the abuse of footballers, if they fail to protect them under tough new rules drawn up by ministers.
This means they will have to deal with anonymous abusers so the police can take action, Sportsmail understands.
Chelsea also strongly condemned the abuse of James on Friday night and insisted that something has to change.
Reece James was also targeted this week and shared a screenshot of the racist messages
James later tweeted: ‘No room for RACISM’ after highlighting the abuse he had received
The clubs said: ‘Everyone at Chelsea FC is disgusted with the racist abuse Reece James received on social media on Friday evening.
‘This club finds racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour completely unacceptable. We totally condemn it. In sport, as in wider society, we must create a social media environment where hateful and discriminatory actions are as unacceptable online as they would be on the street.
‘We add our voice to those urging social media platforms and regulatory authorities to take stronger, more effective and more urgent action against this despicable behaviour. Something needs to change and it needs to change now.’
James addressed the issue again in a separate Instagram post on Saturday.
He posted: ‘We all have a part to play in making this world a better & more equal place! Racism is completely unacceptable! Human is our only race! @instagram you must do more!! #notoracism”.
Chelsea team-mates Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta were among those to tweet in support for James.
Speaking on Friday about the incidents earlier this week, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters had said: ‘Tackling online hate is a priority for football, and I believe social media companies need to do more.’
Anthony Martial (L) and Romaine Sawyers (R) were also targeted on social media this week
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said the government will deliver regulation, which will allow companies to be held to account for abuse on the online platforms – and that will include forcing companies to tackle anonymous abusers.
Jordan Henderson and Tyrone Mings have also held talks with Government ministers this week about tackling abuse in football.
West Midlands Police said a 49-year-old man from Kingswinford, near Birmingham, was questioned in custody on Friday evening following the abuse of West Brom midfielder Sawyers.
The force’s football hate crime officer is also investigating reports of another racist comment towards the player.
Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said this week: ‘We are disappointed that players are continuing to be subject to racist abuse on their social platforms, it is completely unacceptable.
‘We will continue to work with the football authorities, law enforcement and social media companies to try and rid football of hateful and discriminatory behaviour.’
