CAPE TOWN — World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has voiced his support for Marcus Rashford, who received racial abuse after Manchester United lost the Europa League final against Villarreal on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, the Manchester United forward took to Twitter to reveal the number of abusive messages he had received online since after the game.
“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,” the 23-year-old Rashford wrote on his official Twitter account.
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“Keep fighting the good fight @MarcusRashford, I stand with you my brother,” Fury, who is due to fight American Deontay Wilder in a rematch over the coming months, responded.
“Racism needs to eradicated all facets of life and sports. We go again, never give up,” wrote Fury, who describes himself as a Manchester United fan.
Rashford went on to reveal that one of his abusers was a school teacher, which angered him the most.
“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…”
A Manchester United spokesperson said: “Everyone at Manchester United is disgusted by the online hate and abuse aimed at Marcus and other players on social media.
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 👍🏾
“There is simply no excuse for it and we utterly condemn it.
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“Manchester United has zero tolerance of any form of racism or discrimination and we encourage people to report it through manutd.com.
“We also urge social media platforms and regulatory authorities to strengthen measures to prevent this disgusting behaviour.”
IOL Sport