Little Mix share messages of support for England players amid racist abuse: ‘We stand with you kings’

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were subjected to vile racist abuse following Euro 2020 final defeat

Isobel Lewis
Tuesday 13 July 2021 08:10 BST
Boris Johnson tells racists who abused England team to 'crawl back under a rock'

Little Mix have shared a message of support for the England football team after its Black players were targeted with racist abuse.

After Gareth Southgate’s team narrowly missed out on defeating Italy in Sunday’s (11 July) Euro 2020 final, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were inundated by racist comments on social media.

Writing on the official Little Mix Twitter account on Monday (12 July), band member Leigh-Anne Pinnock – who earlier this year fronted BBC Three documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power – shared a black and white photo of Rashford, Sancho, Raheem Sterling and Saka.

“You can live here but be quiet,” she wrote. “You can work here but not all of you. You can speak at the table but not too loud. You can play for us but you can’t lose.”

Pinnock continued: “Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Black British Experience. We stand with you Kings x Leigh.”

On the band’s Instagram page, a second post read: “If you do not stand up against racism, you are also part of the problem. What these young men have had to deal with is beyond disgraceful.”

Following the abuse against the footballers, who missed penalties in the final shoot-out against Italy, Rashford wrote that he would “never apologise for who I am”.

The 23-year-old said that he was left “on the verge of tears” after local residents in his hometown of Withington, Manchester, left notes of love and support where a mural honouring him had been defaced with racist graffiti after the final.

“The communities that wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up,” he wrote.

“I’m Marcus Rashford, 23-year-old, black man from Withington and Wythenshawe, South Manchester. If I have nothing else I have that.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in