Brentford defeated Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 at the Gletch Community Stadium in the Premier League 2022-23 clash on Friday night as the Bees' forward Ivan Toney scored a goal in each half of the game. After the game, the 26-year-old Brentford forward received racist abuse in his Instagram direct message, which was condemned by the fans and the Premier League club.
The Northampton based English footballer took to his official Twitter handle to post a screenshot of his Instagram direct message, where he received the racist abuse. Toney captioned, "I wasn’t even going to post this but I woke up angry…"
Following the unacceptable behavior towards their player, Brentford released a statement terming the abuse as 'an attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us'. The Bees stated, "Last night, Ivan Toney was subjected to disgusting, racist abuse via a direct message received on social media. We condemn this discriminatory behaviour in the strongest possible terms. An attack on one of our players is an attack on all of us."
The west London club backed their forward and asked the police and Meta, parent company of Instagram, to take legal steps against the 'despicable hate crime'. Brentford asserted, "Ivan will receive the full backing from the Club and from the Brentford fans who we have already seen condemning the abuse. We expect strong support from the police, legal authorities and from Instagram's parent company, Meta, to ensure that the individual involved faces the full force of the law for this despicable hate crime."
Meanwhile, Brighton honoured Enock Mwepu, who was forced to retire due to a hereditary heart condition, with heartfelt message on warm up shirts during their game against Brentford on Friday night. With the win, The Bees secured eighth position in the Premier League 2022-23 points table with 13 points in 10 games.