Luton Town take a stand after racist comments to Adebayo post the side’s loss to Sunderland in the Championship.
Luton Town have reported a racist comment sent to forward Elijah Adebayo on social media.
Last season, when playing in the Premier League, the Hatters player was the target of racial taunts on the internet. Adebayo was “tired” at the time and considered not reporting the incident because he was so disappointed.
According to Luton, the most recent incident has been reported to the police and the social media platform Meta, and an investigation is currently underway.
A club statement under the headline “Is it ever going to stop?” read: “Twelve months ago Elijah Adebayo was subjected to racist abuse on social media. A wave of vile and disgusting messages pouring into his account from faceless racists. Fast forward a year later and it has happened again.
“At 8.28pm BST on Wednesday evening, an account in the UK on Instagram messaged Elijah with a racist comment.
“After Elijah notified us following last night’s game with Sunderland, in which he scored his first goal of the season, we reported the incident to the police and to Meta. It is now being investigated.
“Just like we said a year ago, and just like we will do whenever a player or staff member is subjected to abuse. We will stand by and support Elijah unequivocally.
“To the individual who cowardly dropped into Elijah’s DMs [direct messages]. We know who you are and you know who you are. You’re not a faceless account, one which we have sadly become accustomed to reporting in recent years.
“But as if you have the balls to come to Kenilworth Road and say it to his face. We dare you. If you do, you will be faced with everyone at Luton Town Football Club, standing side-by-side with Elijah.
“Abuse of any kind is unacceptable. But does everyone know that? It’s why we are doing our bit to educate everyone that racism and all forms of abuse is abhorrent and unacceptable.”
The club’s statement added: “We are all Luton and we will continue to support and champion these initiatives until such time that the message gets through to the ignorant minority.
“But the question remains: how much longer will our players, our heroes. Fellow human beings for crying out loud – be targeted because of the colour of their skin? There is no room for racism.”