Chelsea Insist Conor Gallagher Is Not Racist

Chelsea have defended their captain, Conor Gallagher, over claims that he was racist against a young black mascot at Stamford Bridge on March 30.

Conor Gallagher entered into the bad books of some activists after a video of him refusing to give a young black mascot a high five went viral.

The mascot was assigned to walk the Chelsea captain to the pitch before the Premier League game against Burnley at Stamford Bridge.

Immediately after the player reached the position of the mascot, the young black boy offered a high-five to Gallagher, but the England international ignored him.

Since then, many critics of the 24-year-old footballer have been trolling the Englishman via social media and terming him a racist, a stand Chelsea believe is a wrong representation of the video.

A statement from the Blues read: “Chelsea Football Club is aware of a video clip circulating on social media from Saturday’s fixture against Burnley, which has been taken considerably out of context.

“The subsequent level of abuse and defamatory comments directed towards Conor Gallagher is completely unacceptable.

“We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities, and identities feel welcome.”

Ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League game against Manchester United, which will kick off at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, Chelsea’s coach, Mauricio Pochettino, stressed that Conor Gallagher didn’t intentionally ignore the mascot.

The coach said: “Conor is a great, great kid, always caring about everything.

“I hate the people who abuse things like this. I think we need to stop this type of thing.

“For people today, it is so easy [to abuse], to give too much attention to the people who want to create this type of thing – to mess, insult and abuse. Please stop.

“How is it possible to believe Conor intends to ignore a mascot? Come on. It makes me very sad because I know Conor.”