SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The San Francisco 49ers shared a statement Tuesday denouncing racist and hateful messages from a 49ers fan sent to Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker following Sunday's game between the two teams.
The 49ers also say they are working to identify the individual behind the messages.
Baker tweeted a screenshot of the messages sent to him on Instagram on Monday, saying he doesn’t mind usual trash talk from opposing fans, “But This right here man... All you can do is pray for ppl like this.”
WARNING: The messages shared by Baker show racist and violent language. His tweet is linked here.
The tweet from Baker went viral, with more than 10,000 retweets and nearly 50,000 likes.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco 49ers tweeted out a statement saying, “there is no place for hate and we got your back Budda Baker.”
“The San Francisco 49ers unequivocally denounce the racist messages sent to Budda Baker,” the statement read. “The individual who sent the messages does not represent the 49ers or the Faithful. Per team policy, we are working to identify the person and will ban them from all 49ers games and events. Incidents like this demonstrate how much work remains to be done to address racism and hate in our society. We remain steadfast in our commitment to that work.”
The Cardinals defeated the 49ers 24-20 in the season opener in Santa Clara on Sunday.
Arizona recently signed Baker, 24, to a contract that made him the highest paid safety in the NFL. Baker has been to the Pro Bowl twice in his three-year career and was All-Pro in 2017.
