An 18-second video causes an English fan to be imprisoned for 10 weeks
A fan who racially abused England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bucayo Saka after this summer's European Cup final against Italy has been sentenced to 10 weeks in prison.
Jonathon Best, 52, posted an 18-second video on his Facebook account, attacking the players with "cruel expressions" after England's penalty shootout loss to Italy at Wembley Stadium.
Best previously pleaded guilty to "sending abusive, indecent, obscene or threatening expressions on a public network."
The three black players received online racist abuse after they failed to successfully translate penalties after 1-1 regular and extra time to deny England a first title since the 1966 World Cup
. Judge Dennis Brennan said he was considering a suspended sentence but He decided to impose a prison sentence to deter others from repeating it.
Last August, British police arrested 11 people for allegedly directing racist abuse online after the final.
And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last July that the laws banning the presence of rioters in football stadiums in England will also include those who direct racial abuse at players on social media.
He also met with representatives from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, noting that "if it fails to remove offensive content, it will face fines of up to 10 percent of its global revenues."
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