Barcelona forwards Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have apologized for a 2019 video appearing to mock hotel staff in Japan but denied their comments were racist.
The video, recorded by Dembele during Barcelona¡¯s preseason tour of Japan ahead of the 2019-20 season, was leaked on social media and showed both players laughing at a group of hotel staff who were working to fix a television.
¡°It all took place in Japan. It could¡¯ve taken place anywhere on the planet and I would¡¯ve used the same expression,¡± Dembele wrote on Instagram on Monday.
¡°I was therefore not targeting any community. I just happened to use this type of expression with my friends regardless of their origins.
¡°This video has since been made public. I appreciate therefore that it could¡¯ve hurt the people present in these images. Because of this, I would like to sincerely apologise to them.¡±
Griezmann said he was ¡°completely against all forms of discrimination.¡±
¡°For the past few days, certain people have wanted to paint me as someone that I am not,¡± he said on Twitter. ¡°I firmly refute the accusations made against me and I¡¯m sorry if I have offended any of my Japanese friends.¡±
Hiroshi Mikitani, chief executive of Japanese e-commerce group Rakuten Inc. ¡ª one of Barcelona¡¯s sponsors ¡ª said the pair¡¯s comments were ¡°unacceptable.¡±
¡°Regarding the discriminatory comments of the FCB (Barcelona) players, I am very disappointed as a club sponsor and tour organizer,¡± Mikitani tweeted.
¡°As Rakuten has endorsed Barca¡¯s philosophy and sponsored the club, we find such comments unacceptable under any circumstance. We officially protest and seek the view of the club.¡±
Dembele and Griezmann recently featured for France at Euro 2020, where the world champion was knocked out by Switzerland in the round of 16 after a shootout.
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