Glen Kamara says he faces racist abuse every single day on social media
As of 7pm on Thursday night, Rangers players and management have begun a week long boycott of all social media, the club has confirmed.
This follows a difficult period for the club after Glen Kamara alleged that he was racially abused by Ondrej Kudela during their Europa League clash against Slavia Prague last month.
#RangersFC Players & Management Boycott Social Media: https://t.co/ow2KOvZK1Z #EveryoneAnyone pic.twitter.com/EhLWbA4c5C
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) April 8, 2021
Since the incident, Kamara has revealed to ITV what he heard during the game, claiming that Kudela called him a “f****** monkey.”
“From there I had a lot of emotions going through my mind; angry, upset, I felt humiliated. All my family, friends, fans, whoever is watching, I felt like a little boy,” he said.
He also said that since the incident, he has received a barrage of racist abuse on social media every day.
“I haven’t paid much attention to what he [Kudela] has done after this whole incident, but I’ve seen their fans, how they’ve reacted, and I’ll get [racist] abuse probably every day on my Instagram,” he told ITV.
“Every day, easily – I’m not the one that gets really affected by it, so I’m all right. But how the team has reacted and taken it, it’s sad to be honest. I feel like I need to tell my story – the online messages I’ve been getting, the racial abuse online: Instagram, Twitter, everywhere else. I feel like as the victim, it needs to be said.”
Club captain James Tavernier also said every black player at the club had been racially abused on social media this season.
And so now, in protest against the racist abuse that is all too often seen on social media, Rangers’ playing squad and management team, including Steven Gerrard who boasts nine million Instagram followers, will boycott all social platforms for a week.
A statement on the club website said: “This is to underline the ongoing concerns over a lack of accountability and responsibility from social media outlets.
“In particular, we are concerned with the daily racist abuse our players have to endure, and believe that although social media can be a very positive and healthy platform for communication, there is undoubted concern the levels of hate are now spiralling out of control.”
