Prince William has received brutal backlash after condemning the racist abuse of England’s Euro 2020 final players.
“I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match,” the royal shared on Monday night from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official Twitter account.
“It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable.”
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in attendance at the match on Sunday.
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, three Black members of England’s squad, all received a slurry of racist abuse after they missed their shots during the penalty shoot-out against Italy.
Saka crying breaks my heart man. He’s 19, a kid. Most his age are just figuring out what college is. And here is stepping up to take probably most important pen for his country in 50 years.
He’s already achieved more than most & there’s still so much to come. So so proud of him. pic.twitter.com/IUvBwwsPMq
— angel (@Angelshi_) July 11, 2021
Italy won the shoot-out 3-2.
England lost the Euro 2020 final in heartbreaking circumstances in front of their home fans, despite initially taking the lead.
However, William’s public call out received an icy response with many questioning why the royal kept silent while his sister-in-law, who is bi-racial, received a flurry of racist abuse while she served in the royal family.
“For years #sussexsquad has been told that we are ‘race baiters’ for highlighting the racism against Meghan Markle. Tonight, seeing the abuse hurled at Saka, Rashford and Sancho literally proves what we’ve been saying for years,” one person said.
Another added: “Prince William performative ally ship. His words would have legitimate credibility right now if he had condemned racist abuse towards Meghan Markle and Archie. His silence and complicity fuelled what he condemns today.”
A third asked: “Were you sickened by the racist abuse aimed at your sister-in-law Meghan Markle for years? What [about] your own blood nephew Archie?” asked a user, amid a sea of other tweets criticising William:
“I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match. But I love it when it’s aimed at my nephew and SIL Meghan Markle (winks),” another tweet said.
The official England Football Twitter account tweeted, “We’re disgusted that some of our squad — who have given everything for the shirt this summer — have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game. We stand with our players.”
The Football Association — England football’s governing body — also released a statement via social media.
“The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media,” a spokesperson said.
“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.
“We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.
“Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.”
