The snowball is getting bigger and bigger. Since the leak and the dissemination on social networks of a video dating from 2019, and showing Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé making fun of the employees of a Japanese hotel, the two world champions are in turmoil. Accused of anti-Asian racism, they posted their apologies on Twitter and Instagram.
I have always been committed against any form of discrimination. For the past few days, some people have wanted to pass me off as the man I am not. I firmly refute the accusations made against me and I apologize if I could offend my Japanese friends.
– Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) July 5, 2021
Insufficient for many fans, but also for their sponsors. Two companies in particular are asking for an explanation. Rakuten, e-commerce giant in Japan and FC Barcelona shirt sponsor, called the Catalan club to account on Tuesday, through its CEO Hiroshi Mikitani.
No coverage of the next PES for Grizou
The Japanese video game publisher Konami, of which Antoine Griezmann is an ambassador, also reacted: “Konami Digital Entertainment believes […] that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. We announced [début juin] Antoine Griezmann became our content ambassador but, in light of recent events, we have decided to cancel the contract. Regarding our eFootball PES franchise, we will ask FC Barcelona, as a partner club, to explain the details of this case and its future actions. “
The Blues striker will therefore not be on the cover of the next PES, nor will he promote the Yu-Gi-Ho card game. This is not the first time that Griezmann has known the anger of social media. In 2017, he had already been widely criticized because of a “blackface”, after the dissemination of a photo where the former Colchonero was dressed as a black basketball player.