English player, Bukayo Saka, has called out social media giants — Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, accusing them of not doing enough to stop and punish the racist attacks that take place on their platforms.
This is the first time that the 19-year-old will be speaking out since losing the last and decisive penalty on Sunday in England’s Euro 2020 final clash against Italy, where The Three Lions had hoped to win a major international trophy after 55 years.
Since having his penalty saved by Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Saka and his two other teammates — Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho — have all been the targets of racial slurs and ‘monkey emojis’ on social media.
Saka was born to Nigerian parents.
In the statement published across his social media accounts, Saka wrote:
“To the social media platforms Instagram, Twitter and Facebook , I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received this week. I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.
“There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society and to the majority of people coming together to call out the people sending these messages, by taking action and reporting these comments to the police and by driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win.”
Saka apologised to English fans for the team’s final loss and thanked them for their support through the tournament. He also thanked his family, teammates, and members of staff.
“I’m sorry that we couldn’t bring it home for you this year, but I promise you that we will give everything we’ve got to make sure this generation knows how it feels to win.”
Many individuals and clubs have expressed solidarity for Saka since the racist abuse began.
Saka’s club coach, Mikel Arteta, has since condemned the abuse. Clubs like Arsenal and FC Barcelona have likewise spoken against the racist behaviour. Also, coach José Mourinho vindicated Saka for losing the final penalty and heaped the blame on England coach Gareth Southgate instead for putting too pressure on a “kid” [Saka]. – Agency report.
