Derby County midfielder Duane Holmes has called out the racist abuse he has received on social media following Nottingham Forest’s final-day collapse.
In a now-deleted tweet, Holmes posted a screenshot of racist abuse sent to him after he made jokes over Forest’s shock defeat to Stoke that saw them fall out of the play-off places in a dramatic finale to the Championship.
In his response, Holmes called on supporters to “keep the jokes civil” in the rivalry between the clubs.
The 25-year-old wrote: “Can’t even joke on Twitter without being called a ‘shit n****r’. I’m all for the banter, we have received a lot of it in my short time at Derby so far and I understand the rivalry between the two clubs, but please just keep the jokes civil. Ridiculous, man.”
This is not the first time Holmes has been subjected to racist language on social media.
Last August, Nottinghamshire Police arrested a man over alleged racially-aggravated harassment of the USA international.
Forest then banned a supporter from the City Ground, saying in a statement that they “denounced the conduct of the individual responsible in the strongest possible terms”.
