JAKARTA - Barcelona forwards Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele apologized for a 2019 video insulting hotel staff in Japan, but denied that their comments were racist.
A video recorded by Dembele on Barcelona's pre-season tour of Japan ahead of the 2019-20 season, leaked on social media and showed the two players laughing at a group of hotel staff working on repairing televisions.
"This all happened in Japan. This could happen anywhere on the planet and I will use the same expression," Dembele wrote on Instagram on Monday as reported by Antara.
"That's why I'm not targeting any community. I just happen to use this kind of expression with my friends regardless of where they come from.
"This video has been published. I appreciate that it can hurt the people who appear in this picture. Therefore, I want to sincerely apologize to them."
Griezmann said he was "completely against all forms of discrimination".
"Over the past few days, certain people have wanted to portray me as someone I'm not," he said on Twitter. "I firmly deny the accusations leveled against me and I apologize if I offended any of my Japanese friends."
Je me suis toujours engage contre toute forme de discrimination. Depuis quelques jours certaines personnes veulent me faire passer pour l'homme que je ne suis pas. Je réfute avec fermeté les accusations qui me sont portées et je suis désolé si j'ai pu offenser mes amis japonais.
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) July 5, 2021
Both players recently featured for France at Euro 2020, where the world champions were eliminated by Switzerland in the last 16 following a penalty shootout.
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