Manchester United‘s Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have said they do not condone any form of discrimination after a photo of them with controversial British rap artist Wiley drew criticism.
Wiley, who had his Twitter account suspended after posting a string of anti-Semitic comments on his social media accounts in 2020, posted the photo on Instagram before deleting it.
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The Jewish Chronicle newspaper published the picture, which it said was taken in Dubai on an unconfirmed date.
“I wasn’t aware of comments that had been made when I got pulled into a photo opportunity. Comments that I absolutely condemn. I apologise for any upset caused. We just all happened to be in the same place at the same time,” Rashford tweeted.
“I’d like to reinforce that I do not and will not condone discriminative language or behaviour of any kind aimed at the Jewish community or any other community,” he added.
“I truly believe that tackling anti-Semitism in and outside of the game requires a greater level of attention and should very much form part of the game’s anti-racism stance.”
Wiley had apologised for his actions two years ago and said he was not a racist.