Good Morning Britain star Richard Madeley has shared his reaction to the racist abuse sent to England footballers following the team’s defeat to Italy.
The 65-year-old presenter appeared on the ITV breakfast show alongside Susanna Reid on Monday morning following the UEFA Euro 2020 final.
England lost the final to Italy following a nerve-wrecking penalty shootout.
Susanna and Richard opened the latest instalment of GMB by discussing the racist abuse on social media against black stars Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho.
Former This Morning host Richard said: “I do think personally, we’ve had enough of this racism. It’s not enough to too call this disgusting.”
We have to track these people down and it’s possible through IP addresses.
“We need to spend some money and some time and some officers to get these guys and to, bring them to court and to lock them away because it is not representative of this country.
(Image: Pool via REUTERS)
“It is a disgusting distortion of what this country now is today. Didn’t use to be, but now we are a properly diverse, wonderful country to live in.
“These people that are sending these messages are breaking the law, they’re breaking a profound moral code and they need to be dragged by the scruff of the neck into the dock.”
He added that he did not think “it’s enough to criticise them and call them names” and called for bringing them to “justice”.
(Image: ITV)
Richard went on to call football “a cruel game, that’s the underlying reality”.
The TV personality said “If only we could have tucked a second one away in the second half.
“I think we’ve got to be really careful of falling into this trap that we’re cursed on penalties.”
The FA released an official statement just hours after the match in regards to the racist abuse online.
It read: “We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team.
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“We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.
“We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.
“Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
