Raheem Sterling criticises newspapers for fuelling racism

Raheem Sterling has taken to social media to call out national newspapers for fuelling racism. The statement, posted to Instagram, came after video footage emerged of the Manchester City winger being abused by Chelsea fans during their 2-0 defeat to the Blues.

Footage appeared to show one fan calling the England international a “F***king black c**t” and Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police are investigating the matter.

Chelsea have promised to “take the strongest possible action where necessary.”

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Earlier this year, the Man City and England winger also found himself defending a tattoo of a gun on his right calf. The media’s coverage as well as the tattoo itself garnered international attention.

Sterling at the time explained his reasoning on social media saying that after he lost his father to gun violence at aged two, he would never touch a gun and “shoot with my right foot”. That did not stop some sections of media disregarding the explanation and condemning the City winger for promoting gun violence.

Sterling in his statement today, he referred to the media coverage around players buying houses for their mothers:

“Good morning I just want to say, I am not normally the person to talk a lot but when I think I need my point to be heard I will speak up.

“Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don’t expect no better.

“For example you have two young players starting our their careers both play for the same team, both have done the right thing. Which is buy a new house for there mothers who have put in a lot of time and love into helping them get where they are, but look how the newspapers get their message across for the young black player and then for the young white player.”

He added: “I think this is unacceptable both innocent have not done a thing wrong but just by the way it has been worded. This young black kid is looked at in a bad light. Which helps fuel racism and aggressive behaviour, so for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age all I have to say is have a second thought about pair publicity an give all players an equal chance.

The Daily Mail’s coverage of the issue was referenced in Sterling’s instagram post.