Raheem Sterling racially abused after Man City’s PSG win just 48 hours on from boycott
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Raheem Sterling has been subjected to sickening racist abuse only 48 hours after football’s soclal media boycott ended. The forward received an abusive post – of racist monkey and gorilla emojis – on Instagram after Manchester City’s semi-final second leg victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
Instagram removed and condemned the post when they were made aware of it.
A spokesperson for owners Facebook said: “The racist abuse sent to Raheem Sterling is unacceptable and we do not want it on Instagram.
“We have removed the comment and taken action against the account that posted it.
“As part of our ongoing work in this space, we’ll soon be rolling out new tools to help prevent people seeing abusive messages from strangers.
“No single thing will fix this challenge overnight but we’re committed to doing what we can to keep our community safe from abuse.”
Sterling has been the target for racist abuse repeatedly.
A study commissioned by the Professional Footballers’ Association last October looked at social media posts directed towards 44 players.
It found more than 3,000 explicitly abusive messages were directed at those players, with 50 per cent of those messages aimed at just three players – Adebayo Akinfenwa, Wilfried Zaha and Sterling.
Sterling said at the time: “I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but football and the social media platforms need to step up, show real leadership and take proper action in tackling online abuse.
“The technology is there to make a difference, but I’m increasingly questioning if there is the will.”
On-loan Stoke player Rabbi Matondo has also been the targets of abuse online since the boycott ended at 11.59pm on Monday night, having started at 3pm on April 30.
Matondo, who is with the Potters on loan from German side Schalke, received similarly vile messages on Instagram.
Matondo wrote on Twitter: “Good to see the boycott changed nothing @instagram.”
Express Sport is proud to stand in solidarity with everyone who faces hate and discrimination online. We commit to continue working to fight all forms of online abuse and once again call on social media companies to deliver direct action to stop it.
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