While Prince William never said anything to defend Meghan, he did take the time to slam the blatant racism – both on and off the pitch – in British football. Here’s what you need to know.
The future King of England took to the Kensington Royal Instagram and Twitter accounts to condemn the serious wave of abuse towards black football players on social media. This comes after Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford took to social media over the weekend where he described the racist abuse he received this week as “humanity and social media at its worst.”
He wrote, “Racist abuse – whether on the pitch, in the stands, or on social media – is despicable and it must stop now. We all have a responsibility to create an environment where such abuse is not tolerated, and those who choose to spread hate and division are held accountable for their actions. That responsibility extends to the platforms where so much of this activity now takes place.”
Prince William then added, “I commend all those players, supporters, clubs and organizations who continue to call out and condemn this abuse in the strongest terms,” before adding his signature W at the end.
Of course, it didn’t take very long for critics to weigh in on the matter, with a lot of them pointing out that Prince William could have said these same things when his sister-in-law was still in London and was getting attacked by the British press on almost a daily basis.
Some commenters said, “I do wish you and your family were this vocally antiracist when the target of the racism was the Duchess of Sussex,” along with, “Shame you didn’t have the same energy when Meghan was getting abuse.”
Another fan wrote, “It looks like you are being very selective as far as when you want to stand up against racism and when you don’t. It was radio silence from you and your team when the British media was making racist attacks on Meghan Markle.”