West Ham United are investigating allegations that a minority of their fanbase racially abused Arsenal players AND fans on Wednesday night, a club spokesperson has announced.
The Hammers suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, a tough result for the club in their efforts to stay in contention for European qualification. The night was marred even further by allegations of racial abuse from their travelling supporters.
West Ham supporter @SamadChowdhury_, who was in attendance in North London, took to Twitter to bravely call out his own Hammers-supporting counterparts for the alleged racist abuse they launched at Arsenal players and fans.
Just a warning – the content below may be offensive to some readers.
Arsenal away today with West Ham. Was sat near two racist West Ham fans who racially abused black players and black Arsenal fans all game:
– Both bood the knee before the game
– Left repeatedly called Lacazette a monkey
– Left shouted “go back to Nigeria” to Lacazette pic.twitter.com/wAJIEqdLZh— Samad (@SamadChowdhury_) December 16, 2021
– Left shouted “fuck off back to Lagos you cunt” (see video) to a black Arsenal fan
– Right called Tomiyasu (Japanese Arsenal player) a “Chinese cunt”
– Right called an Arsenal player (not sure which) a “black cunt” pic.twitter.com/S3EVud85Wo— Samad (@SamadChowdhury_) December 16, 2021
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West Ham have subsequently issued a statement confirming that an investigation is underway into the alleged wrongdoing, as is reported by The Athletic.
“West Ham United is appalled by the contents of this video and condemn the behaviour of the individuals involved.”
“The club takes incidents of this nature extremely seriously and we are liaising with the relevant authorities to identify the individuals.”
“We continue to be unequivocal in our stance – we have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination. Any individuals identified will be issued with an indefinite ban from the club.”
“Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of the football club and we do not welcome any individuals who do not share those values.”
We hope that the investigation will be swift and the individuals found guilty to have said any racial slurs within the confines of the Emirates are given hefty penalties.
