Why Barcelona duo could lose their spot after Racism Row

When racism is running rampant around the world, figures of influence must go out of their way to show their fans the right way of living and respecting each other. Football and racism go hand in hand, there have been many incidents of racism in football, and the sport has tried its hardest to let fans and players know that this sort of behaviour is not normal, and that we as a society need to change.

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Nowadays, every match begins with a tribute to the Black Lives Matters movement however, this is not the first time the sport has taken an anti-racist or anti-discrimination stance. The no room for hate movement has been going on for a long time and players regularly share messages of love and acceptance. Although these acts of anti-bigotry should be saluted, the message is always formed from a western bias.

What the last sentence means is that the anti-racism and anti-discrimination messages are always focused around black people. This is due to the western history of slavery where the Americans and the Europeans kidnapped hordes of Africans and then forced them into labour. There is no doubt a history of systematic racism in the west; however, when the players say, “no to racism”, we should understand that it means no to any kind of racism, not just against Black folks.

Recently, there has been a rise in the number of hate crimes against Asians and for a large part of it, it’s going unnoticed. The media houses are not vigorously standing up for the rights of Asians and neither is the sports and entertainment sector. Thus, when a video was leaked of Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann, mocking a few Japanese people for the way they look and the language they speak in, at first it went unnoticed.

Later, as more and more people found out about the video, the players were hit with a ton of backlash and there have already been some consequences for their actions. Both the players have posted individual apologies online, and today we will be dissecting the whole controversy and see what occurred due to the two player’s insensitive comments.

#1 When and Where was the Video taken?

According to reports, the video was leaked from Ousmane Dembele’s phone and it was apparently taken in 2019. It was taken in a Japanese hotel where the staff were trying to help out the duo with some technical problems. Dembele then decided that it was a good time to start recording the situation and the two started mocking the staff who were trying to help them. This was when the Barcelona squad were visiting Japan ahead of their 2019/20 season. They were on a pre-season tour of Japan in order to play some friendly matches.

#2 What are the Contents of the Video?

The video seems to show a few people from the hotel’s staff trying to connect a Playstation to the hotel room’s television. The procedure should not be a long one; however, the staff seems to be struggling with the issue and this led Dembele into recording them. The former Borussia Dortmund and former Atletico Madrid players were heard saying that the hotel staff were technologically backwards. Dembele is also heard saying in French, “All these ugly faces, just so you can play PES.” The duo then went on to mock their language, as well as their lack of technological advancements. Had the players done some research, they would have known that not only is the Playstation made by a Japanese company but, the game they were playing, PES, was also made by a Japanese company.

#3 The Consequences After the Video was Leaked.

Once the video was leaked on the internet, the public caught on to the controversial tone of the players quite quickly. Barcelona’s main sponsor at the moment, Rakuten, a Japanese E-Commerce company, has spoken out about the situation and their CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, has stated that he will publicly protest against the club if they do not take strict actions against the two players in the video.

Meanwhile, one of Griezmann’s sponsors, Konami, has announced that they will be cutting ties with the player. Konami is a Japanese company and Griezmann was Yu-Gi-Oh! Product’s main ambassador. However, after the video, the company stated that they have dropped the player from their contract. Dembele is yet to face any severe consequences from the video.

#4 What have the players said?

Both the players have addressed the controversial video and the situation as a whole through social media. While Griezmann gave a shorter, more apologetic statement, saying that he has always been against racism and is sorry to anyone who has been offended, Dembele took a more defensive stance. The 24-year-old stated that it was a private video where the duo were only joking.

He said although he regrets the words that he used, they were not racially motivated. He said he would have used the same expressions, regardless of what race the staff members were. Both of the players insinuated that the video was just a private joke, not radically motivated and they have denied all racist allegations thrown towards them. Griezmann has also privately reached out to Rakuten’s CEO and apologized to him. We are not sure whether his apology has been accepted or not.

#5 How did Barcelona respond?

The club was quick to take countermeasures to control the backlash. They immediately sent out an apologetic statement where they distanced themselves from the players’ antics. They said that the words and expressions used by the two were not shared or accepted by the club. In a lengthy statement, they wrote,

"“FC Barcelona deeply regrets the displeasure amongst Japanese and Asian fans and partners of our Club caused by a video that appeared a few days ago on social media in which two first-team players (Ousmane Dembélé and Antoine Griezmann) displayed a lack of respect in their attitude towards several employees in the hotel in which they were staying.” Source Marca"

The statement went on to say that the club was extremely sorry for causing any harm or offence to their Asian and Japanese fans. However, the club also wrote that the two players in question have already shown their remorse for the video and thus there might be no internal investigation into this situation.

What actions should Barca take against the two French superstars?