Mocking Asians, soccer star Konami canceled game ambassador contract

Last month, Antoine Griezmannthe soccer star who currently plays for Barcelona and the French team, was Konami signed a contract as a global ambassador for the brand Yu-Gi-Oh! Unfortunately, less than a month into his new role, Konami today officially announced the company will end its partnership with the player after a video showing Griezmann and his teammates mocking the Japanese was leaked on the internet. network.
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The video was shot during Barcelona’s tour of Japan in 2019. In the video, Griezmann and teammate Ousmane Dembele are sitting in their hotel room while Japanese technicians try to fix their TVs so the duo can play Pro Evolution Soccer (which, ironically, is also a Konami title. ).

In the meantime, we can clearly hear the derision of Dembele’s employees, that they have “ugly faces,” odd language, then ask in French: “does advanced technology exist? Isn’t that the case in your country?” Although most of it was Dembele, but Griezmann did not object, even laughed along with Dembele.
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Of course, as soon as it was published, the actions of both Dembele and Griezmann caused Barcelona to suffer no small consequences. Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten, the Japanese retail and auction giant that is also Barcelona’s biggest 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 protest by canceling the ambassador contract for Yu-Gi-Oh!. “Konami Digital Entertainment believes that, as in sports, discrimination of any kind is unacceptable,” the game company told ESPN. We have announced Griezmann as the global ambassador of Yu-Gi-Oh! But due to recent controversies, we have 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, parodying the Asian accent to mock the Chinese language. Racism is an extremely sensitive issue and the consequences that Griezmann must suffer for his behavior are fully deserved.
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