TOKYO (Japan): Japan’s NBA star Rui Hachimura said he received racist messages as uproar grows over the abuse directed at top athletes online.
His revelation comes after England’s Premier League led a social media boycott to protest against racist taunts suffered by footballers including Marcus Rashford and Reece James.
The 23-year-ol , a forward for the NBA team Washington Wizards, commented after his brother — a basketball player at a Japanese university — tweeted a screenshot of an offensive message he had received.
“There are people who say there is no racism in Japan,” wrote Aren Hachimura, 21, alongside an image of the direct message in Japanese that used a racist insult and told him to “die”.
“But I want people to pay attention to the issue of racism, even though I don’t think exposing (the message and its sender) here will solve the problem,” the younger Hachimura said on Tuesday.
