Gardaí last night confirmed they were investigating an incident where a number of direct messages with racist content were sent to Ian Wright.
Wright shared details of instagram messages sent to him that included racist slurs, and tweeted:
"I know I'm not meant to look at them but these messages still hit me so hard man. This is a child!!!
"This kid as a direct line into me & is able to send this without any worry."
Last night Gardaí confirmed they were investigating the incident on Twitter and added that a 'male adult teenager' volunteered himself to a station for interview. They also confirmed a file was being sent to the DPP and urged the general public to avoid social media commentary in regards to the incident.
A male adult teenager has presented voluntarily at a Garda Station and has been interviewed. A file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. An Garda Síochána are appealing to the public not to engage in social media commentary in relation to this matter.
— Garda Info (@gardainfo) May 11, 2020
According to today's Irish Independent, the teenager has claimed his account was hacked.
Ged Grebby of Kick It Out commended Wright for coming forward and sharing the information:
"Ian Wright has put his head above the parapet again and I saw him on Match of the Day with Gary Lineker a few weeks ago talking about the racist abuse he suffered as a player. I'm sure he will be more than happy to report it.
"There was an Asian reporter (Sima Kotecha) yesterday for the BBC and she was abused in the middle of Leicester.
"It shows racism is society's problem and unfortunately it has been on the rise. People having been staying at home but it doesn't stop them them abusing people on social media and this is a shocking example of that."
