Manchester City defender Kyle Walker condemned the “vile, racist and threatening” online abuse he received on social media after the team’s 2-0 loss to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Walker, 34, posted two Instagram Stories showing screenshots of messages he received on Thursday, one of which included a racial slur and another doctored image of him which he called “unacceptable.” The image showed what appeared to be Walker wearing a suicide bomber vest.
“No one should ever be subjected to the sort of vile, racist and threatening abuse I have received online since last night’s match,” Walker wrote on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter. “Instagram and the authorities need to stop this happening, for the sake of all who are suffering this abuse. It is never acceptable.”
“To our fans, we will continue to work as a team to do better, to improve and to turn the corner together.”
When contacted by CNN, a spokesperson for Meta – the owner of Facebook and Instagram – said the company is working with Walker to take “appropriate action.”
“No one should be subjected to racist abuse, and sending messages like this is against our rules,” the statement said. “DMs are a private messaging service, which means we can’t review or take action on a message unless the person who received the abusive DM reports it to us in-app.
“We are in touch with Kyle Walker and his team who have now reported this content and we will be taking appropriate action. No one thing will stop this behaviour overnight, but we’ll work to help protect our community from abuse, and support police investigations.”
Manchester City said it “strongly condemns the racist abuse” directed towards Walker.
“We refuse to tolerate discrimination of any kind, regardless of whether that be in stadiums or online,” the club said. “We will be offering Kyle our full support following the disgusting treatment he has received.”
In a statement, the Premier League said it condemned “all forms of discrimination.”
“Racism has no place in our game or anywhere in society. We encourage anyone who hears or sees discriminatory abuse to report it so action can be taken,” the statement continued.
“The Premier League will support Kyle Walker and the club to tackle online hate.”
Anti-discrimination organization Kick It Out said that the “disgraceful abuse” directed at Walker “again highlights the deep-rooted issue of online hate” while also calling for more “action and accountability” from social media companies to stop online abuse.
