Premier League unveils details of Ivan Toney racism as Neal Maupay opens up on online abuse

Brentford star Neal Maupay has opened up on online abuse received as a Premier League star as part of BBC Radio 4 podcast Why Do You Hate Me? in a bid to demand action.

The episode also features Tim Cooper, who leads the Premier League's 'troll-busting unit'. Mr Cooper speaks about the racial abuse sent to fellow Brentford striker Ivan Toney last season.

Both Maupay and Toney have seen the perpetrators of abusive messages convicted but, while the Frenchman has praised the actions of authorities, he has called for action to help stop such messages being sent by social media users in the first place. Brentford has previously labelled the efforts of social media platforms to cut out online abuse as 'underwhelming'.

Neal Maupay on abuse received after goal against Arsenal

Maupay, who is on loan at his former club Brentford this season from Everton, received abuse after scoring against Arsenal when playing for Brighton in June 2020. The Seagulls man clashed with Gunners midfielder Matteo Guendouzi after the match as he vocally celebrated his side's 95th minute. Earlier on in the match, Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno picked up an injury after a collision with Maupay.

Maupay received abusive messages and death threats that targeted him and his family, making multiple threats from different accounts. A man in Singapore was convicted and sentenced to a nine-month probation and community service for such a message.

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On reporting the crime, Maupay said: "I had to do it because I wanted to make sure we were reporting these people and trying to get them punished for it. I think it's my responsibility as a person and as a football player to report it and try to change it. I think to ignore it is not the solution.

"You can be the nicest person on and off the pitch, the best player or the worst player. I think it doesn't matter. But, how do you stop it before it happens? That's the question. I don't have the answer, I don't know. I have no idea. It’s a tough battle but the clubs and the Premier League are doing a good job on it and helping the players; we feel now supported. So, I think it's very important but there is still a long way to go.”

Premier League investigation into Ivan Toney racist abuse

Brentford colleague Toney publicly shared a racist message received in October 2022 following a match against Brighton. The culprit was eventually found guilty and handed a four-month sentence suspended for two years. He was also banned from every stadium in the UK for three years.

Cooper said: “[Toney] received horrific racial, abusive message on Instagram. We were alerted to that. I remember it was on a weekend and the team jumped on it immediately to start securing evidence of the abuser. And actually, the abuser started to remove his social media profiles in real time as we were capturing the evidence.

“We captured everything we could, and we sent all of that information over to the UK Football Policing Unit, where their digital media investigators were able to corroborate all the information that we sent.”

Brentford statement on online abuse

Earlier this month, Toney was subject to abuse online once again and Brentford issued a statement condemning the 'vile harassment' as an investigation was launched.

The club said: "Sadly, this isn’t the first time Ivan has had to deal with this. A similar incident occurred just four weeks ago, leading us to identify an alleged perpetrator whom we reported to the authorities. To date, we have yet to see any action taken against that individual.

"In general, the response from social media platforms to these ongoing issues has been underwhelming. Their solutions, such as filters to simply hide the abuse may safeguard the players, but miss the mark entirely and do not discourage the offenders. Without real consequences for those responsible, the cycle is doomed to repeat.

"We do have faith that things can change. We appreciate the dialogue that we have with the likes of Meta but we call for more decisive and urgent action to combat online hate. We call for prompt investigations, and importantly, we call for criminal prosecutions. We will continue to work with the authorities and the Premier League and to support our players as we tackle this awful online abuse."