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  • Sports - Football - All Teams
  • Updated: July 13, 2021

Marcus Rashford: Fake Tweet Attributed To England Star Regarding Racists [FACT CHECK]

Marcus Rashford: Fake Tweet Attributed To England Star Regar

Rashford after his penalty miss

A supposed tweet by Manchester United and England star, Marcus Rashford laid claim to the 23-year-old insulting racists. The screenshot reads: ‘You are stupid if you allow a Monkey to represent you but more stupid if you blame it on the Monkey. I thank all my Teammates for the support.’

All the screengrabs shared depicted that the purported tweet had been retweeted over 135, 000 times. It also portrayed a quote retweet of over 345, 000 and 876, 000+ likes 'on Rashford's verified Twitter handle' on Monday July 12. This supposed tweet has found its way to WhatsApp. A blog, Somtosports published it too. AllNews fact-checks this claim.

Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford news

Why was Rashford at the centre of discussion?

England manager, Gareth Southgate had brought on Rashford alongside Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, clearly for penalty duties after a 1-1 draw with Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday following 120 minutes. But the tactician's plans backfired as all three missed and Italy were crowned champions of Europe at Wembley, London.

For this, lots of angry English fans dashed off to the players’ social media pages to racially abuse them.

AllNews checked Rashford's timeline (on Twitter) to see if the tweet about him calling abusers stupid was genuine, we didn't find Rashford responding to racial abusers in that manner.

We proceeded to use WayBack Machine, a digital archive of the World Wide Web, to find if Rashford indeed put up the tweet and had deleted it, we also did not find the said tweet.

How Rashford reacted to racist abuse

On the evening of July 12, Rashford took to his verified Twitter handle to pay tribute to his team-mates amid the outpouring of support he has received after his spot-kick miss at Wembley

According to Rashford, he has "felt no prouder moment" representing England at Euro 2020 and that he "will never apologise for who I am and where I came from" after he was subjected to racist abuse following the Three Lions' defeat to Italy.

Southgate's side were beaten 3-2 on spot kicks in the Euro 2020 final.

Reflecting on his miss in the shootout, Rashford admits that "something didn't feel quite right" before he stepped up to take the penalty, while he has vowed the Three Lions will "be back stronger".​​​

What has been said by Rashford?

"I don't even know where to start and I don't even know how to put into words how I'm feeling at this exact time," Rashford wrote in a statement published on his social media accounts. "I've had a difficult season, I think that's been clear for everyone to see and I probably went into that final with a lack of confidence.

"I've always backed myself for a penalty but something didn't feel quite right. During the long run-up, I was saving myself a bit of time and unfortunately the result was not what I wanted.

"I felt as though I had let my team-mates down. I felt as if I'd let everyone down. A penalty was all I'd been asked to contribute for the team. I can score penalties in my sleep, so why not that one? It's been playing in my head over and over since I struck the ball and there's probably not a word to quite describe how it feels.

"Final. 55 years. One penalty. History. All I can say is sorry. I wish it had [have] gone differently. Whilst I continue to say sorry, I want to shout out [to] my team-mates. This summer has been one of the best camps I've experienced and you've all played a role in that. A brotherhood has been built that is unbreakable. Your success is my success. Your failures are mine.

"I've grown into a sport where I expect to read things written about myself. Whether it be the colour of my skin, where I grew up or, most recently, how I decide to spend my time off the pitch I can take critique of my performance all day long, my penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from.

"I've felt no prouder moment than wearing those Three Lions on my chest and seeing my family cheer me on in a crowd of tens of thousands. I dreamt of days like this. The messages I've received today have been positively overwhelming and seeing the response on Withington had me on the verge of tears.

"The communities that always wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up. I'm Marcus Rashford, [a] 23-year-old black man from Withington and Wythenshawe, South Manchester. If I have nothing else, I have that.

"For all the kind messages, thank you. I'll be back stronger. We'll be back stronger."

On Twitter, Rashford's post has garnered over 165, 000 retweets and 978, 000+ likes.

Verdict

Screenshots of Rashford using words as "stupid" and "monkey" are photoshopped. That was not Rashford tweeting. He never called abusers "stupid" and he never mentioned "monkey".

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