The Manchester United forward was subjected to “at least 70” racial slurs, which also includes one from a teacher.
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On the back of Manchester United’s Europa League final defeat against Villarreal, Marcus Rashford was subjected to racial abuse on social media. The England forward said he had received “at least 70 racial slurs” on social media after the penalty shootout loss in Gdansk. On Wednesday night, Manchester United came from behind to equalise in the second half but were unable to get a winning goal. The Red Devils eventually lost the battle in a penalty shootout against a resilient Villarreal side.
Just hours after the match in Gdansk on Wednesday night, Rashford revealed that he was subjected to online racial abuse. “At least 70 racial slurs on my social accounts counted so far. For those working to make me feel any worse than I already do, good luck trying,” Rashford tweeted.
The forward was “outraged” with a maths teacher who had sent monkey emojis to him in a direct message. He added, “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.”
Rashford also shared a message sent from an account, with the handle Chocospino, which read, “You deserve it man you are awful.” Sadly though it’s not the first time Rashford has faced social media abuse. Last month, English football took part in a four-day boycott of social media in response to the abuse received online by players.
After being subjected to abuse in January, Rashford wrote, “Yes, I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. 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.”
Manchester United also issued a statement, condemning the racial abuse. “Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the online hate and abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford and other players on social media after last night’s game,” a statement from the club’s website read.
“There is simply no excuse for it and we utterly condemn it. Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and we encourage people to report it through manutd.com/seered. We also urge social media platforms and regulatory authorities to strengthen measures to prevent this disgusting behaviour.”
