It's been a shameful week for sections of the British media. First, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand were among the high-profile figures forced to leap to the defence of Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood. The teenager, who recently lost close friend Jeremy Wisten to suicide, has been the subject of heavy criticism all season with persistent questions about his attitude. Neville and Ferdinand took exception to a piece in The Mirror claiming United feared he would "throw away his career like Ravel Morrison". Then, a report in the Daily Mail came to the surface. It was a thinly-veiled attack on "campaigning" Marcus Rashford for buying what were described as "luxury homes". Rashford himself responded to the article with the following tweet:
It's truly disheartening to see two talented young players on the receiving end of such vitriol. Rashford has almost single-handedly secured free school meals for millions of vulnerable children in Britain and he deserves nothing but respect.
Aside from that, he can do whatever he likes with his personal finances and as his tweet points out, he's been making some shrewd investments.
We've seen all this before and sadly, this will probably happen again. Raheem Sterling has been at the forefront of speaking up against the media's treatment of footballers.
The Manchester City forward has publicly spoken about how race has influenced newspaper coverage of his own lifestyle. In 2018, he accused sections of the media of "fuelling racism".
How the media covered Beckham vs Rashford
That point is being made again on social media, with many fans comparing how the same publication covered David Beckham's charity work to Rashford's recent campaigning.
Beckham, apparently, "deserves to be knighted", while Rashford should be mocked for making moves to protect his family's future? Come on, now.
Rashford was absolutely right to call it out.
The 23-year-old can rest assured that he remains a national treasure for his incredible efforts in combatting child food poverty.