Konami cut ties with Griezmann after viral video

Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembélé's viral video is causing quite a stir. A few days ago, an unfortunate video emerged showing both footballers in a hotel bedroom during Barça's pre-season tour of Japan in 2019. In this video, they were seen making racist comments to some Japanese employees who were helping them to fix their PlayStation. After receiving heavy criticism for his actions in the video, Griezmann's partnership with Konami has now been terminated.

The French striker had recently agreed a deal with the Japanese videogames company to become their ambassador. Just one week ago, the company announced how happy they were for Griezmann to become the face of the brand. But in just a few days, everything has changed.

The Japanese company, famous for titles such as Pro Evolution Soccer - renamed a few years ago to eFootball PES - has announced that it will get in touch with Barça, who it also sponsors, to receive an explanation for the video.

On the club's social media accounts, first team goals are celebrated with animations of the players created by Konami. This could soon change if the company decides to cut off ties with the club.

The company's official statement said "Konami Digital Entertainment believes, as is the philosophy of sports, that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. Previously, we had announced Antoine Griezmann as our Yu-Gi-Oh! contents ambassador. However in light of recent events we have decided to cancel the contract. With regard to our eFootball PES franchise, we will be requesting FC Barcelona, as a club partner, to explain the details of this case and its future actions".

Both Griezmann and Dembélé have already apologised for the video. However, as shown by the unilateral termination of Griezmann's contract, this was not deemed to be enough by the videogame company.

Rakuten have also asked for an explanation from FC Barcelona and, as reported by RAC1, the French striker has already apologised to them too.