Manchester United have condemned the “mindless idiots” who racially abused Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial on social media and have called for stronger measures “to prevent this kind of behaviour”.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team fell to a shock 2-1 home defeat by the Premier League’s bottom side, Sheffield United, on Wednesday. That sparked a torrent of online abuse aimed at United’s players, including racist abuse towards defender Tuanzebe, who inadvertently turned home Oliver Burke’s winner, and the forward Martial.
Racist terms and monkey emojis were put on Instagram comments of the pair’s most recent posts.
United said: “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.”
Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay and Brandon Williams were among those to post on social media in support of their teammates, and Kick It Out has labelled racist abuse “completely unacceptable”.
Its chair, Sanjay Bhandari, said: “Online hate must have real-life consequences, so people don’t continue to spread hate as freely as they wish. The individuals responsible for this abuse will hopefully be identified by the social media platforms and swiftly removed. We know that discriminatory abuse can have significant real world impact on the welfare of the victims.”
McTominay posted a photo of Tuanzebe with a crown on his head alongside a heart emoji as well as black and white fists. “My brother,” he said on an Instagram Story post. “Disgusted with what I have read this morning”
Maguire, United’s captain, wrote on Twitter, alongside a picture of the players taking a knee: “UNITED against racism. We will not tolerate it.”
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/36gSwSc
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