Last month, Antoine Griezmannthe soccer star currently playing for Barcelona and the French team, were Konami signed as a global ambassador for the brand Yu-Gi-Oh! Unfortunately, less than a month into his new role, today Konami officially announced that the company will end its cooperation with this player after a video showing Griezmann and his teammates mocking the Japanese was revealed on social media. network.
The video was filmed during Barcelona’s 2019 tour in Japan. In the video, Griezmann and teammate Ousmane Dembele are sitting in a hotel room while Japanese technicians try to fix their TV so the duo can play Pro Evolution Soccer (ironically, this is also a Konami title ).
While waiting, we can clearly hear Dembele’s employees mocking them, saying they have “ugly faces”, strange language, then asking in French: “advanced technology exists.” Is it not like that in your country? Although Dembele did most of the talking, Griezmann did not object and even laughed along with Dembele.
Of course, as soon as it was posted, the actions of both Dembele and Griezmann caused Barcelona to suffer significant consequences. Hiroshi Mikitani – CEO of Rakuten, the Japanese retail and auction giant that is also Barcelona’s largest sponsor, demanded an apology from Barcelona, accusing the video of being “unacceptable”. Griezmann then had to personally call Mikitani to apologize for his actions.
Konami also continued to show its protest by canceling the ambassador contract for Yu-Gi-Oh!. Sharing with ESPN, the game company said: “Konami Digital Entertainment believes that, as in the field of sports, discrimination in any form is unacceptable. We announced Griezmann as a global ambassador for Yu-Gi-Oh! But because of the recent controversy, we decided to cancel the contract.”
Worth mentioning, this is not the first time Griezmann has shown contempt for Asians. In another clip, Griezmann can be seen sitting in an ice bath with teammates Ousmane Dembele and Samuel Umtiti, mimicking an Asian accent in a mockery of the Chinese language. Racism is an extremely sensitive issue and the consequences Griezmann must suffer for his behavior are completely deserved.
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