Man Sentenced To 10 Weeks In Prison For Racially Abusing England Players

One man’s racist Facebook post over soccer lands him in jail for 10 weeks

Source: Charlotte Tattersall / Getty

Earlier this summer, soccer players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka all missed a series of shots in what many call the most important game of their careers. These things happen in sports but it’s the response from the fans that made this event very different. The players were subject to racism all over social media as well as threats, all for simply  missing a goal.

David Beckham recently joined LeBron James’ show The Shop and talked about how impactful the moment was and how it pulled the cover off England’s racism and rallied people to stand up to racism. Now, one man is being held accountable in the legal system for his part in the racial abuse on social media, Complex reports.

“While the majority of the nation took great pride in the Three Lions reaching their first international final in more than 50 years, Jonathon Best took to Facebook to Livestream a barrage of racist abuse at the three players who missed penalties during the game,” Elaine Cousins, from the CPS, said. “He used social media to publicly vilify these three young men who tried to score for England. When approached by a Facebook friend asking him to remove the grossly offensive content, Best replied: ‘It’s my profile, I can do what I want.’ There is absolutely no room in the game, nor elsewhere, for racism.”

“The CPS is committed to bringing perpetrators of hate crime to justice where there is the evidence to do so. I would like to thank the individual who reported this appalling hate crime and I hope this prosecution goes some way in educating and deterring people from posting hate on social media.”

This is setting an example for those who think they can say anything and get away with it. The whole ordeal has caused protesters to enter the streets and demand respect for the players. While the 10 weeks sentence will stop people from speaking out on social media, hopefully, somehow they can actually change their beliefs after seeing the response from their racist actions.