James shared images of the abuse on his Instagram page on Friday night
Chelsea and England defender Reece James has revealed how he was targeted by disgusting racist abuse on social media.
The 21-year-old shared a screenshot to his Instagram Stories on Friday night, showing a string of racially abusive messages sent to him via direct message on the platform. ‘Something needs to change,’ read the caption accompanying the screenshot.
Chelsea were quick to respond to James’ post, releasing a statement strongly condemning the abuse and calling on social media companies to do more to to stamp out racism across their platforms.
‘Everyone at Chelsea FC is disgusted with the racist abuse Reece James received on social media on Friday evening,’ the club statement reads. ‘This club finds racism and all forms of discriminatory behaviour completely unacceptable. We totally condemn it.
‘In sport, as in wider society, we must create a social media environment where hateful and discriminatory actions are as unacceptable online as they would be on the street. We add our voice to those urging social media platforms and regulatory authorities to take stronger, more effective and more urgent action against this despicable behaviour. Something needs to change and it needs to change now.’
Similar abuse had also been directed at West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers and Manchester United pair Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial earlier this week, with their respective clubs taking a similar stance to the ones adopted by Chelsea.
