Reece James’ father calls upon social media companies to stop online abuse
Nigel James, the father of Chelsea starlet Reece James and Manchester United Women forward Lauren James, has come out in protest of the racial abuse suffered by his children on the social media platform.
Reece was subjected to sickening online abuse towards the end of January, with a certain user bullying the right-back with monkey emojis while also commenting on the colour of his skin.
Chelsea issued a strong statement back then, calling upon the social media company to curb such behaviour on their platform. (h/t Eurosport)
And his sister, Lauren, who represents Manchester United Women, has become the latest victim of online racial discrimination directed at black players.
A number of monkey emojis were directed to her by a particular user, who is also understood to have sent similar messages to a host of other players.
In response, James Sr. has condemned the online racial abuse suffered by his children. He also believes social media companies should be fined a percentage of their profits to prompt them into taking action to stop the spread of hate speech directed at black players.
Speaking to talkSport, Nigel said:
“These companies should be fined a percentage of their profits if there are continued abusive messages arising on their platform.
“Board members of these companies should face negligence charges if the abuse continues, while guilty parties should face either being automatically sent to youth offender centres or prison for a short period [of time] and be issued with fines/have their salaries deducted.
Other Premier League players, including Manchester United trio Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Axel Tuanzebe, as well as Romaine Sawyers and Alexandre Jankewitz, have also reported online abuse in recent weeks. (h/t Daily Mail)
Chelsea starlet Callum Hudson-Odoi slammed the social media giants after it was revealed that they didn’t consider the usage of monkey emojis had anything to do with racial discrimination.
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- Rio Ferdinand surprised Reece James is not a regular feature for Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea
- Michael Ballack backs Timo Werner to rediscover his goalscoring touch at Chelsea
Antonio Rudiger has also been loud in his protests against such behaviour directed at players on social media platforms.
