‘Humanity and social media at its worst’ – Rashford hits out at racist abuse

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has hit out at racist abuse he has received on social media.

United this week called for social media companies to improve their monitoring of abuse after “anonymous mindless idiots” abused Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial in the wake of team’s 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United in midweek.

Meanwhile, Chelsea defender Reece James posted screenshots of abuse he received on Instagram, with the Blues subsequently releasing a statement condemning the attacks.

Rashford, 24, took to Twitter on Saturday after his side’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal to denounce those who have targeted him.

“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,” he wrote.

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 👊🏾

— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) January 30, 2021

“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.”

United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined in the condemnation of racists online, saying at a press conference on Friday: “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.”