Although the French soccer team has said goodbye to
European cup (e.g. soccer)
The tournament, but its players have still been frequently in the headlines recently - all because a video recorded in 2019 allegedly racially abusing Japanese people went viral on the internet. Dembele and Griezmann, who now play for Barcelona in La Liga, were targeted for the incident. Although they have publicly apologized earlier this week, the move has not quelled the anger of many fans, especially Japanese fans. Recently, one of Barcelona's main sponsors, Japan's leading internet service company Rakuten, also spoke out publicly, with its founder and president saying via social media that he wants justice from the La Liga club.
Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and president of Rakuten Corporation, wrote in Japanese on his official Twitter account, "As a sponsor of the club and an organizer of the tournament, I deeply regret the discriminatory comments made by FC Barcelona players. We support the philosophy of Barcelona and sponsor the club, but any form of discrimination is unacceptable, so we will formally protest to the club and seek their advice." The tweet received tens of thousands of likes and thousands of retweets and quotes in just a few hours. Many of the commenters expressed their support for Rakuten's protest and suggested that Hiroshi Mikitani add multiple language versions, including English and French, in order to make the matter more accessible to a wider audience.
What kind of "public outrage" did this incident cause? Let's look back to the summer of 2019, when FC Barcelona participated in a commercial tournament in Japan. Dembele used a mobile app to record a video in which he insulted the Japanese staff who were repairing his gaming machine, first saying, "They're a bunch of ugly bastards, aren't they ashamed of themselves?" Then he says, "What kind of language are they speaking? Is your country technologically advanced or not?" Griezmann, who was standing in front of him, smiled the whole time and did not say anything.
The video was revealed around July 2 and quickly sparked a buzz on social media. Shortly after, it was discovered that in the official video released by FC Barcelona for their 2019 tour of Japan, Griezmann was suspected of saying "Ching chong," a derogatory term with racist connotations often used by English speakers to ridicule Chinese speakers, people of Chinese descent, and other similarly-appearing East Asians. Ching chong.
The exposure of these two videos made the two French internationals, who play for Barcelona, quickly become targets. Dembele then responded via his INS account, "Wherever I am, I act in the same way. That's how I talk to my friends sometimes. Now that this video has come to light, I want to apologize to the people who appear in it." And Griezmann also spoke out via social media, "I have always been against any form of discrimination. In the last few days, there have been attempts to portray me as not what I am. If my words or actions have offended my Japanese friends, I want to express my apologies to them."
Although the apology came in time, many netizens and fans did not feel the sincerity of the two French internationals. Especially Dembele, many people think that his statement "I'm usually like this" just shows that he has been looking at Asians with colored glasses. The funny thing is, as a black player, eliminating discrimination is something he is fighting for. After Rakuten's president publicly spoke out against the remarks, a large number of fans under his tweets demanded that the Japanese company continue to pressure Barcelona so that the two French players who committed racist acts would be punished as they should be. There were even French fans who came in solidarity, stating that Griezmann and Dembele do not deserve to be in the French national team.
"Terminate the sponsorship contract with Barcelona!" "Kick Dembele and Griezmann out of Barcelona!" These two voices can be said to make up a large portion of the internet users' opinions. It's unclear what will happen next, but Griezmann and Dembele's place at Barcelona is in jeopardy. If he hadn't been seriously injured during the Euros, Dembele would have been put on a waiting list and become a "cash-for-work" option for the club. According to the Spanish media this week, Barcelona in order to retain Messi, also need to dispose of the high salary Griezmann in order to recoup funds.
