Kevin Paredes on death threats, racist abuse and fake news: 'I didn't understand what was happening'

He was one of the break-out young stars of the Olympic football tournament, lighting-up the U.S. men’s team’s performances.

But instead of reflecting on the positives after the side’s run to the quarter-finals in France, Kevin Paredes spent the days following defeat by Morocco last week dealing with a barrage of racial abuse and death threats sent to him and his family. Advertisement It was a torrent of hate provoked by that increasingly damaging spectre of the social media age — fake news: in this case, falsified remarks attributed to him before the game which were derisory about the Morocco team. The Athletic has been unable to pinpoint where the quotes first appeared.

But the Instagram posts purporting to quote Paredes use a version of the following: “I don’t know this Morocco you are talking about, all I know is that we are winning the match tomorrow.” “I was like: ‘This is not me or who I am as a person.’ Of course I knew who their team was,” he says.

Now the 21-year-old wants to speak out about the vitriol he received and the pernicious toll it can take on someone’s mental health. Talking to The Athletic after joining pre-season preparations with his German club Wolfsburg , the midfielder said he felt compelled to post a message on his Instagram account denying the quotes in a desperate attempt to end the saga. “I’ve experienced some racist remarks throughout my career before, but definitely not death threats,” he says.

“I’ve seen some .