Professional Soccer Players Mock Asian Staff...

In July, 2021, videos surfaced from a soccer tour in Japan of a previous year, in which several popular professional soccer players (on a goodwill soccer tour of all things) mocked Asian hotel staff in a manner that was degrading at the least, but could easily be seen as discriminatory based upon their race. It was disheartening to see the news of several incredibly popular – and therefore influential – professional soccer players mocking the Asian staff at their hotel.

Of particular disappointment was the fact that one of those professional soccer players – Ousamane Dembele – has likely experienced a lifetime of discrimination and racism in various forms. That calls attention to a less well-publicized (yet common) form of discrimination and racism: the kind that focuses on Asians.

Adding insult to injury (from my point of view), Dembele’s apology attempts to excuse his actions by saying that it took place in Japan, and that he would have used the same expression anywhere on the planet. Not the right approach in my opinion, and rather than taking it as an opportunity to learn, a true teachable moment, he attempted to excuse his behavior because all the staff were likely Asian and furthermore he would use the offensive phrase anywhere on the planet. “I was therefore not targeting any community. I just happened to use this type of expression with my friends regardless of their origins.” (ESPN.com) Doesn’t work that way, and sounds familiar to other excuses in other situations…

It was encouraging to see that one of the sponsors (Rakuten) of Barcelona and of the other player Griezmann (Yu-Gi-Oh!) took the matter seriously. Rakuten demanded an explanation from the player and from the team; Yu-Gi-Oh! Dropped Griezmann as a sponsor. Not that I am advocating for punitive approaches per se, but I do believe that the power of the market and of corporations taking visible social stances can have significant and positive impacts on this issue.