West Ham: Antonio likens Zuma cat abuse to racism

Michael Antonio has made controversial statements about cat abuse at the hands of his West Ham team-mate Kurt Zuma.

The English attacker compared the French stopper’s act to various racist incidents and asked journalists to pick the worst act.

“I’ve got a question for you. Do you think what he did is worse than racism? I don’t forgive anything he did. I don’t agree at all with what he did. But there are people who have been convicted of racism and have played football ever since. They were sentenced to eight games or so, but now people are demanding that Zuma be fired or lose his life. I’m just asking this question to everyone out there. Racism? “was Antonio’s statement.

Tony Barnett, chief executive of Kick It Out, the UK-funded anti-racism and anti-discrimination organization in sport, has put things into perspective by citing dissenting opinions.

“We’ve seen people make comparisons between animal cruelty and discrimination. Both are wrong and do not help the victims because they are not in competition. In every instance of abuse there must be a fair trial and there must be consequences for those actions.” Consequences should not mean total annulment. For some people, no punishment is enough and comparing incidents always creates division.”

West Ham handed Zuma the maximum penalty under the law of two weeks’ salary, but David Moges usually used him against Watford, with supporters throwing slogans at him. On a criminal level, he faces up to four years in prison in France, while Adidas has already withdrawn its sponsorship. The cat has already been moved to another stable by the UK animal welfare authorities.