William comforts race abuse stars
PRINCE WILLIAM has been comforting the three black England footballers subjected to vile racist abuse after missing penalties in the Euros final shoot-out against Italy.
He went to the dressing room at Wembley to commiserate with the squad after their defeat last
Sunday and has since been ‘in touch’ with Marcus Rashford,
Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka who were targeted by online trolls.
A source said William – who said he had been ‘sickened’ by the ‘unacceptable and abhorrent’ racist abuse – has also been liaising with the Football Association about how pressure can be put on social media firms to do more to tackle the issue. William is president of the FA and attended the final with his wife Kate Middleton and their son Prince George. In a statement after it emerged the three players had been racially abused, he said: ‘It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable.’
A palace source told The Mail on Sunday that William’s ‘focus has been on supporting the players’ and there had been ‘private conversations’.
In a plea last week, Saka, 19, called on the tech giants to step up their efforts. ‘I don’t want any child or adult to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received,’ he wrote.
‘I knew instantly the kind of hate I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.’
In a speech at the BBC three years ago, William accused social media companies of arrogance, saying: ‘Their self-image is so grounded in their positive power for good that they seem unable to engage in constructive discussion about the social problems they are creating.’