Eddie Betts has again been the subject of racial abuse over social media, and again has handled it with class.
The Carlton veteran called out the fan on social media, posting an image of the tweet that appeared over the weekend featuring a photo of a chimp in reference to the fan favourite.
The post has come at a time where the world's eyes are focused on protests supporting the Black Lives Matter campaign, in an aim to eliminate racism once and for all.
Betts joined all AFL players this round in taking a knee before games as a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
A small minority of fans have questioned why their clubs are participating in the taking a knee, with some going as far as to request refunds if their team took part in the sign of solidarity.
But for those questioning why clubs have taken this stand need only look at this incident as sign of just how far we have to go as a society.
“If at any time anyone is wondering why we work so hard to bring attention to the importance of stamping out racism, this is it,” Betts said on Instagram on Sunday.
“If ever there was a time where our focus on this needs to continue more than ever, it's now. “We each have a responsibility to ourselves and each other. To continue to listen. To learn. To educate.
“To ignore it is to be part of the problem, to call it out is to be part of the solution.”
He ended his post with the hashtags #itstopswithme and #bepartofthesolution.
He has been supported by many teammates who have posted the screenshot of the tweet with the above hashtags.
Betts also found support from opposition players, with Hawk Chad Wingard posting: “With you brother always. This is weekly and enough is enough.”
Wingard has been quite outspoken in recent weeks on the issue of racism in Australia.
https://twitter.com/KylePollard/status/1272088717188984834/photo/1
