Rakuten furious with video of Dembele & Griezmann on Barça tour 2019
A video emerged over the weekend of the two players while in Japan two years ago
The fallout from the video featuring Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann that appeared on social media continued on Tuesday.
The images appear to show the Barcelona players mocking Asian staff while on a tour of Japan in 2019. "All these ugly faces just so you can play PES, are you not ashamed?" Dembele says. "What type of language is that?" he adds as Griezmann laughs.
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Both players apologised for the video on Monday but said there were no racist undertones to the exchange two years ago.
However, the CEO of Rakuten, Barça'a main sponsor, posted a tweet on Tuesday displaying his anger and asking for an explanation from the club.
"As a sponsor of the club and the organiser of the tour, I regret the players' racist remarks," Mikitani posted on social media.
"Rakuten endorsed Barcelona’s philosophy and has supported the club as a sponsor, therefore such behaviour is unacceptable under any circumstances. I will make a formal protest to the club and seek their views."
FCBの選手が差別的発言をした事について、クラブのスポンサーまたツアーの主催者としてとても残念に思います。楽天はバルサの哲学に賛同し当クラブのスポンサーをしてきただけにこのような発言は、どのような環境下でも許されるものではなく、クラブに対して正式に抗議すると共に見解を求めていきます
— 三木谷浩史 H. Mikitani (@hmikitani) 6 de julio de 2021