23-year-old England forward Marcus Rashford has called out the racist abuse he has received on social media following Manchester United’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Taking to his Twitter account after the draw on Saturday, Rashford stated, “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 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.:
Rashford refused to share the screenshots, saying it would be “irresponsible to do so” and that children didn’t need to read it.
The incident makes it the third time this week that a Manchester United player has been subjected to racial abuse online after Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial were targeted following their defeat to Sheffield United on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Facebook has reiterated Instagram’s commitment to removing racism where they find it, also sating their plan to continue working with clubs, players and football authorities to investigate and tackle discrimination on their platform.
The Greater Manchester Police, Premier League and the Football Association also released statements vowing to investigate and eradicate racism from the game.
Despite encouraging talks with social media companies, Manchester United director of communications Charlie Brooks insists more need to be done to end the “rinse and repeat cycle” of online racist abuse.