Barcelona Threatened To Break Up Sponsorship With Konami Because Of Racism Cases

GAMEFINITY.ID, Salatiga – Famous football club from Catalan Barcelona now having a big problem. One of its biggest sponsors, Konami threatened to terminate the sponsorship contract due to racism cases.

Barcelona’s racism problem started with their early 2021 pre-season tour in Japan. Barcelona’s two star players, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele proven to say racist words against staff who came from Japan.

The two were caught red-handed by the act of racism through two videos that were leaked on the internet.

First video shows some hotel staff trying to fix their second television to try the new game Pro Evolution Soccer 2021.

Dembele is then heard referring to the hotel staff’s ugly face and retarded language. Griezmann, who was sitting next to Dembele, responded to his joke with a joking laugh.

ah ouais ils sont comme a Antoine Griezmann et Ousmane Dembélé ? #StopAsianHate pic.twitter.com/JJFBk6X0nZ
— nahidul (@duatleti) July 1, 2021

Next in second video, it looks like Griezmann and his teammates are doing an ice bath. At that time Griezmann hurled racist words directed at Asians.

J’ai bien entendu @AntoGriezmann ? pic.twitter.com/C8E8wnB0C1
— nahidul (@duatleti) July 3, 2021

Konami’s Reaction To The Racism Video

This case made Konami, a Japanese company, offended. Past official blog, Konami condemned the racism committed by Barcelona players and demanded the management to explain about this controversy.

Then Konami also officially terminated the contract with Antoine Griezmann who was previously appointed as the brand ambassador for Yu-Gi-Oh! international.

“Konami Digital Entertainment believes, as is the philosophy of sports, that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable”
“We previously announced Antoine Griezmann as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Content Ambassador, but in light of recent events, we have decided to cancel the contract”
“With respect to our eFootball PES franchise, we will ask FC Barcelona as a club partner to explain the details of this case and next steps,” Konami wrote on its blog.

If this case gets bigger, Konami will not hesitate to terminate the license partner contract with Barcelona in the upcoming PES 2022.

Barcelona itself has clarified and apologized for the case of racism that befell two of its star players. According to Barcelona management, Griezmann and Dembele have been warned and given appropriate sanctions.

“FC Barcelona would like to publicly apologize to all the fans and partners of the Club who were unhappy with the events that took place in the summer of 2021,”
“This was the responsibility of the Board of Directors and the executive team in the previous period. The current Board of Directors is committed to ensuring something like this doesn’t happen again.”
“The player in question has shown their remorse and has apologized to fans and partners from Japan, something the Club greatly appreciates. However, FC Barcelona reserves the right to take any internal action it deems appropriate.