Lauren James: Manchester United boss Casey Stoney says racist abuse of forward ‘utterly disgusting’
Written by News on 09/02/2021
Manchester United manager Casey Stoney says the racist abuse of Lauren James is “utterly disgusting” and has called on the government and social media companies to do more to tackle the issue.
United and England forward James shared a screenshot of abuse she had received on her Instagram story on Monday, labelling it as “boring now” and urging the platform to “do something”.
As well as James, United men’s players Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Axel Tuanzebe, Southampton’s Alexandre Jankewitz, Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, and her brother Reece have all been victims of racist abuse across social media in recent weeks.
The Football Association has urged the government and social media companies to act quickly in the fight against racism, and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden insists MPs will seek to change the law to make online platforms more accountable.
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On Tuesday, United boss Stoney said: “I’ve spoken to Lauren. I speak to her every day – when she’s here and when she’s not here. She’s 19 years of age, let’s not forget that. She’s a very young person, living away from home.
“It’s hard for me to comprehend as a white person, in terms of actually being able to understand what she lives through every single day and what she’s experienced growing up.
“It’s disgusting. It’s utterly disgusting. I think the government and the powers that be need to do so much more to govern these social media platforms, and we need to stand up, speak up, and make it unacceptable that this happens.
“When a player comes to me and says it’s water off a duck’s back – that is gutwrenching for me that she has to face that and thinks it’s normal. I just cannot get my head around it at all and it does upset me quite a lot.”
Asked if she thinks the government and social media companies have an equal responsibility to tackle online abuse, Stoney added: “Absolutely. If you’re going to work in the UK territories, you should have certain restrictions or certain policies that protect people.
“If you haven’t got anything to hide, then you should have to register for that account. If you’re not going on there to do anything detrimental, then what’s the problem?
“Social media is a blessing and a curse and I’ve experienced it myself in terms of the toxic nature it can be and the powers it allows people.
“I said to Lauren yesterday, ‘why don’t you come off it and protect yourself?’ and I think her opinion is ‘well, then they’re winning, aren’t they?’
“[Social media] is something as a young person they actually enjoy. It’s part of who they are now and if you take that away, that’s wrong.
“But it has to stop and it’s not just because it’s one of my players, we’ve seen it and unfortunately it’s rearing its ugly head more and more at the moment. It’s completely unacceptable.”
Ward: James right to demand action
Birmingham City manager Carla Ward also issued her support for James and insists the teenager is right to demand more action from social media companies over the issue of online abuse.
Ward said: “Lauren James put it brilliantly the other day – you’re talking about a 19-year-old girl telling Instagram how to look after their own policies. She was spot on in everything she said.
“I don’t think it’s too difficult nowadays for those companies to have some policy where you have to have ID linked to your account. It sounds so basic – I can’t believe we’re in 2021 and it’s still happening.
“Like Lauren said, I think it will continue until one of these major social media networks really does something about it. You would like to think it’s around the corner, but certainly at the moment, it’s just not acceptable and not good enough.”
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(c) Sky Sports 2021: Lauren James: Manchester United boss Casey Stoney says racist abuse of forward ‘utterly disgusting’
