Owner Roman Abramovich has written to every Chelsea player expressing how “appalled” he is by the abuse suffered by Reece James.
James and Chelsea revealed over the weekend that he had faced racist abuse on social media.
It has now been revealed that Chelsea’s players found letters from Abramovich at the training ground on Monday.
What has happened?
James received abusive messages on social media on Friday. He took screenshots of the messages and posted them on his Instagram account.
Chelsea then expressed their “disgust” in a statement.
Abramovich has now taken the significant step of sending a letter to the players, pledging additional funding for Chelsea’s anti-racism efforts.
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What did the letter say?
As reported by the Daily Mail, he wrote: “I am appalled by the racist abuse targeted at Reece on social media.
“Racism has no place in our club nor in our society. Our club is committed to fighting racism, antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Abramovich, who is Jewish, added: “It shocks me that only days after we commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day, we as a society do not seem to have learned the lessons of our shared past and the consequences that hate and discrimination can have.”
Who else has faced abuse recently?
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford said he was subjected to “humanity and social media at its worst” after receiving racist abuse on social media on Saturday night. Rashford’s Manchester United teammates Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial also received hateful messages after the club’s defeat to Sheffield United on Wednesday, January 27.
On Saturday, West Midlands Police confirmed they had arrested a man on suspicion of racially abusing West Bromwich Albion player Romaine Sawyers online. The 49-year-old man from Kingswinford was taken into police custody on Friday evening for questioning.
Following the incidents, the Football Association has vowed to work with the British Government and social media platforms to tackle racism online.
(Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)