English footballer Tyrone Mings has lashed out at British Home Secretary Priti Patel for stoking the fire before pretending to ‘be disgusted’ against racism. Mings’ scathing reaction came after Patel pretended to express her disgust over the online abuse targeting England’s non-White players after they missed penalties.
Reacting to the online abuse, Patel had tweeted, “I am disgusted that @England players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media. It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.”
However, not many were prepared to believe that Patel was being honest in her condemnation for the online abuse targeting Black English players. Mings took to Twitter to attack Patel as he wrote, “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ and then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”.
You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens. https://t.co/fdTKHsxTB2
— Tyrone Mings (@OfficialTM_3) July 12, 2021
Patel had told a TV channel earlier that she did not support ‘people participating in that type of gesture politics’ after some racist fans had booed England players for taking the knee against. When asked if she would criticise fans who booed England players for taking the knee, the controversial home secretary had said, “That’s a choice for them, quite frankly”.
Three English players namely Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho had to face online abuse due to the colour of their skin after all of them missed their penalties during the Euro final against Italy. England eventually lost the title to Italy on penalties.
One British MP had branded Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Patel ‘arsonists’ for their alleged role in fanning the phenomenon of racism in the country.
According to the BBC, Patel has refused to comment on the scathing tweet by Mings.