The Manchester City defender received the message after his team’s loss to Juventus in Italy last night.
England and Manchester City star Kyle Walker has shared a ‘racist and threatening’ message he received after his side’s 2-0 loss to Juventus in the Champions League yesterday.
Walker posted a screenshot of the ‘vile’ Instagram DM on his X page this afternoon, along with the caption: “No one should ever be subject to the sort of vile, racist and threatening abuse I have received online since last night’s match.”
— Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) December 12, 2024
He continued: “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 do better, to improve, and to turn the corner together.”
Lots of people voiced their support for the 34-year-old defender, including Liam Gallagher who commented: “Chill out ya divs it’s only a game of football we’re going through a spiritual patch and we’ll come back silkier smoother fizzier and bubblier.”
Since Walker’s post, Manchester City have issued a statement on their website, writing: “Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse that Kyle Walker was subject to online following last night’s fixture.
Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse that Kyle Walker was subject to online following last night’s fixture.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 12, 2024
“We refuse to tolerate discrimination of any kind, regardless of whether that be in stadiums or online.
“We will be offering Kyle our full support following the disgusting treatment he has received.”
A spokesperson for Meta issued the following statement to JOE: “No one should be subjected to racist abuse, and sending messages like this is against our rules. DMs are end-to-end encrypted, 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.”
The last few weeks have been arguably the toughest time of Pep Guardiola’s tenure at the club. The former Barcelona midfielder’s team have won just one of their last ten games, and have dropped to fourth in the Premier League table – eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
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Last night’s defeat in Turin put the 2023 UEFA Champions League winners in danger of an early elimination from this year’s competition.
They host Ruben Amorim’s new-look Manchester United at the Etihad on Sunday, a game both teams will be desperate to win for reasons beyond bragging rights.
