Racist abuse was thrown at the English players following their loss at the Euro finals. The social media accounts of multiple black footballers were flooded with derogatory messages. The gravity of the situation was such that the Prime Minister had to intervene. More details below.
England lost to Italy in the finals of the Euro 2021. The match was decided via a penalty shootout after the stipulated minutes failed to yield a result. Three players from the English side failed to capitalize on the shoot-out. Sancho, Rashford, and Saka failed to convert from the spot. This was when the fans turned on the black footballers. They flooded the accounts of the mentioned players with Racist Abuse.
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The seriousness of the situation was such that the British Prime Minister had to make a statement. He asked the companies to immediately take steps against the abuse.
The fans were full of all sorts of notorious comments. It ranged from emojis of bananas and monkeys to derogatory slang involving one’s race. Instagram claimed to have taken down the hate comments at once. However, it is reported that abuses remained still very much posted even after repeated reporting.
The Association of Football for England criticized the fans heavily. They expressed their concerns about the illicit and degrading verbal attacks on their footballers. The retired footballers expressed their anger on social media sites. They stated that it was incompetency on their part that led to the Racist Comment. They felt that failure to promptly delete the comments escalated the situation. Earlier, the top most football league in England decided to boycott social media. They pledged strong measures towards erasing hatred on their online platform.
