'Must stop now': Prince William's fury at 'despicable' racial abuse
Prince William has labelled the racist abuse directed towards Premier League Players as “despicable” after United star Marcus Rashford spoke out about the issue on the weekend.
Following United’s goalless draw with Arsenal on the weekend, Rashford took to social media to call out the racist comments directed at him.
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Rashford did not post screenshots of the offensive messages he received after the match, instead tweeting that it was "humanity and social media at its worst."
"Yes I'm a black man and I live every day proud that I am," he wrote.
"No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different..."
Prince William, who is president of England's Football Association, tweeted: "It must stop now."
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.
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 30, 2021
The FA vowed to work with the British government and social media platforms to tackle racism after players from Chelsea, West Bromwich Albion and Manchester United were targeted by online abuse during the past week.
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Greater Manchester Police said in a statement it was investigating racist comments sent to United players, with two of Rashford's teammates - Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial - also reportedly targeted this week.
"Nobody should be subject to such abuse and it is deeply upsetting not only to those who suffer it, but to all those who come across this awful language too," a GMP statement said.
"These hateful words have no place anywhere in our society whether online or otherwise."
The FA doubled down on its commitment to stamping out discrimination of all kinds.
"We are united with all of football in our abhorrence of any racist abuse," it said in a statement.
"This is not acceptable in any part of society.
"We will continue to work with the rest of the game, the government and social media platforms to remove this - and all elements of - discrimination from our sport."
Racist abuse - whether on the pitch, in the stands, or on social media - is despicable and it must stop now. (1/3)
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 31, 2021
I commend all those players, supporters, clubs and organisations who continue to call out and condemn this abuse in the strongest terms. - W (3/3)
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 31, 2021
Prince William said he commended all players and clubs who highlighted the abuse and said social media companies must do more.
"We all have a responsibility to create an environment where such abuse is not tolerated, and those who choose to spread hate and division are held accountable for their actions," the said in a post from the official Twitter account of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
"That responsibility extends to the platforms where so much of this activity now takes place."
On Friday, a man was arrested on suspicion of racially abusing West Bromwich Albion midfielder Romaine Sawyers online during the team's heavy loss to Manchester City on Tuesday.
On Friday, Chelsea's Reece James posted a screenshot of racist messages he had received on Instagram.
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