Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has reacted after receiving racist abuse on Saturday night.
The 22-year-old, who was awarded the MBE for his work fighting child food poverty, received multiple racist messages on Instagram on Saturday.
They were sent to the England striker after his club’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
Rashford chose not to share screenshots of the offensive messages he had been sent post-match as ‘it would be irresponsible to do so’.
Marcus 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.”
Speaking on Match of the Day, former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright said the authorities and social media companies need to do more to identify the perpetrators.
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He said: “It seems to be a fact if a black player plays poorly – or they think they did – they come with all the emojis and whatever. There are ways of being able to catch people. They’re not vigilant enough, nowhere near.
“It should be something they’re doing hand in hand [authorities and social media sites]. But how much do they care deep down?”
Man United coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also spoke against racists online, saying at a press conference after the match: “It’s just incredible we have these scenes still, this abuse in 2021.
“We’ve been campaigning for a long time now with the Premier League and I think it’s working, but there are still some people that haven’t got it.
“They hide behind social media, are anonymous and it’s unacceptable, it’s disgusting.
“The players and everyone we’ve spoken to, each other, and they’re fine, to put it that way. They’re not Manchester United fans when this happens. We’re all standing behind every single one of our players.”
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