Wilfried Zaha reveals Instagram messages in which he is called a ‘n*****’ and a ‘monkey’ received after Crystal Palace’s win at Man City as winger accuses social media companies of not taking the issue of racism seriously
Wilfried Zaha has revealed sickening racist abuse sent to him after Crystal Palace’s win over Manchester City as he called on social media networks to take action.
The Palace winger, 28, posted a series of screengrabs in which he was called a ‘n*****’, a ‘monkey’ and a ‘chimp’ in private messages sent to him on Instagram.
Zaha scored Palace’s opening goal – his 50th in the Premier League – as they claimed an unexpected win at title-chasing City on Saturday afternoon.
Wilfried Zaha was subjected to racist abuse following Crystal Palace’s win over Man City
Zaha shared screenshots of some of the offensive messages, received privately on Instagram, as he called on social media companies to do more to combat the problem
He was also fouled by Aymeric Laporte in first-half stoppage time, leading to the city defender receiving a red card. Conor Gallagher sealed the three points late on.
It appears the win led to Zaha receiving a barrage of racist abuse and he shared some examples on his Instagram Stories late on Saturday night.
He wrote: ‘This message isn’t for me to get a million messages saying we stand with you and it’s disgusting or about me getting sympathy.
‘I’m not here for all the nonsense that is being done instead of fixing the actual problem!
Zaha shared five screen grabs showing the racist abuse received on Instagram on Saturday
Zaha demanded more action from social media companies (right) to combat racist abuse
‘I don’t mind abuse because nowadays it comes with doing the job I do even though it’s not an excuse but my colour will always be the real problems. But it’s fine because I’ll always be BLACK AND PROUD!
‘Speak to me when you actual take this issue serious [sic].’
It isn’t the first time Zaha has been racially abused on social media.
A 12-year-old boy was arrested last summer for sending racially offensive messages to Zaha on Instagram.
Zaha celebrates after scoring Crystal Palace’s opening goal at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday
The winger was the fouled by Aymeric Laporte, leading to the defender receiving a red card
The player shared images of the messages received, including one showing members of white supremacist organisation the Ku Klux Klan. The boy underwent education sessions.
In February, Zaha said he would stop taking the knee before matches as has become customary in the Premier League. He said at the time that players ‘should stand tall’ and that taking the knee was ‘degrading’.
In March, he called on social media companies to take stronger action against online abuse.
‘As a society, I feel we should be encouraging better education in schools, and social media companies should be taking strong action against people who abuse others online – not just footballers,’ he said.
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