UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson slams 'appalling' racial abuse against England's Euro 2020 team

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday slammed "appalling" racial abuse against England's Euro 2020 team after they lost the final to Italy on a penalty shoot-out. 

"This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media," Johnson wrote on Twitter.  

"Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves." 

This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.

Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 12, 2021

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - the three players who missed England's penalties on Sunday - were the victims of a stream of abuse on Twitter and on their Instagram accounts. 

They received a barrage of monkey emojis, while other some England fans used racial slurs in blaming the trio for the defeat. 

Metropolitan Police tweeted that they were "aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final.  

"This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated." 

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat demanded that social media companies take action. 

"Social media has algorithms that targets ads to you but won't stop the racist abuse against some exemplary young men," he tweeted. 

"Those who write are pathetic and deserve to be identified and face the public consequences, those who publish it are profiting from hate." 

Social media has algorithms that targets ads to you but won’t stop the racist abuse against some exemplary young men.

Those who write are pathetic and deserve to be identified and face the public consequences, those who publish it are profiting from hate.

— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) July 12, 2021

Some of the abuse also appeared to be directed by non-England fans, with Saka receiving racial slurs followed by a forza italia hashtag. 

England forward Raheem Sterling also received a stream of monkey emojis after social media users accused him of cheating to win a penalty in England's semi-final win on Wednesday. 

England’s Football Association (FA) released a statement in the early hours of Monday morning condemning the online racist abuse of players following the team's penalty shoot-out loss to Italy. 

"The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media," the statement said. 

"We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible."