The Aston Villa and England defender Tyrone Mings has revealed he has been subjected to racist abuse on social media. The centre-back posted a screenshot on his Twitter account on Friday of a vile message from an Instagram user.
Mings tweeted: “Another day in the life of social media with no filter… Please don’t feel sorry for us, just stand side by side in the fight for change. Social media isn’t getting any safer without it.”
England were quick to throw their support behind the centre-back following the latest instance of in a long list of professional footballers being racially abused online, with Marcus Rashford, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling among those targeted in recent months.
A post on England’s official Twitter account read: “We are running out of ways to say this: stop racially abusing people online. It is simply not acceptable. We’re with you, [Tyrone Mings].”
Mings said at the start of April during an interview with Sky Sports that a social media boycott could be a way to force more action.
Aston Villa said they were “disgusted by the appalling racist abuse” and added: “We condemn all forms of racial discrimination and will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Tyrone, who is an inspirational figure at the forefront of the fight against racism.”
Instagram has been contacted for comment.