A man from Saudi Arabia who racially abused Arsenal and England midfielder Bukayo Saka following the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy has apologised.
The man was tracked down on social media, and appeared on the BBC Radio 4 documentary ‘File on 4‘.
He had sent monkey emojis on Saka’s Instagram account following the final, in which Saka missed a penalty in the shootout.
Speaking for the documentary, the man said (via The Guardian): “It was a big mistake. I was angry and I didn’t know what, if he saw the monkeys, what he would feel.
“I really want to apologise to Saka, it was a mistake and I will not do it again for him and any black player.”
Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all received racist abuse online after missing penalties in the shootout, which England lost.
Twitter revealed that it removed almost 2,000 tweets during and in the 24 hours after the final.
The UK Football Policing Unit announced in August that it had arrested 11 people in the aftermath of the final for racist abuse.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs’ Council Football Policing lead, said: “There are people out there who believe they can hide behind a social media profile and get away with posting such abhorrent comments.
“They need to think again – we have investigators proactively seeking out abusive comments in connection to the match and, if they meet a criminal threshold, those posting them will be arrested.
“Our investigation is continuing at pace and we are grateful for those who have taken time to report racist posts to us.”
Onuoha comments on man’s apology
Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha said on the File on 4 documentary that the abuse sent out by the unnamed man was “wrong on every level”.
He said: “It’s so toxic, that’s how social media feels to me, this type of thing goes on with people who don’t neccessarily think about their consequences.
“You’re the same person who went to Bukayo Saka’s Instagram account and put a monkey emoji in a comment for one of his posts.
“I understand disappointment… but for me it crosses a line, and it’s wrong on every level.”
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