Kurt Zouma attacked his cat in a viral video and since then, the West Ham United defender has been under the scanner for all the wrong reasons.
Despite his pathetic behaviour, David Moyes included him in the matchday squad but now there are petitions to urge the Hammers to cancel his contract. His sponsors have severed all ties with him and the club have also fined him two weeks wages.
There has been major uproar regarding this incident, and rightly so but surprisingly his teammate Michail Antonio has come out to back the Frenchman.
When asked about the Kurt Zouma incident, the West Ham United forward told the reporter: “I’ve got a question for you. So, do you think what he’s done is worse than racism?
“I’m not condoning the thing that he’s done. I don’t agree with what he’s done, at all. But, there’s people convicted… Been caught for racism, and have played football afterwards. They got punished, they got an eight-game punishment or something like that.
“People are now calling for people to be sacked, to lose their livelihood. I’ve just got to ask this question to everyone out there.
“Is what he’s done worse than what people have done who are convicted of racism?”
Is Antonio right to compare the Kurt Zouma incident to racism?
The jury is very much divided regarding the comparisons and while we absolutely condone what Zouma has done but we can also understand where Michail Antonio is coming from.
Despite such major uproar over the past year(taking the knee and all), we can still hear and see racism incidents and almost none of them receive the punishments as harsh as the ones being suggested for Kurt Zouma.
West Ham's Michail Antonio has questioned the reaction to Kurt Zouma kicking his cat, asking if it's worse than players convicted of racism. pic.twitter.com/QchAIeXOsT
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 10, 2022
Looking at the racism thing separately what Michail Antonio has said is very true since for decades this issue has plagued the footballing scene and despite so much awareness, there is no solution to it.
But once we separate these two issues we will come to understand that the defender has done a pathetic thing and for that, he’s already been punished very appropriately.
In conclusion, we can understand Antonio coming out to support Kurt Zouma and in doing that the forward has raised a very valid point. But these two incidents are vastly different and there’s no reason or need to compare them and then hand out punishments.
The system is flawed but just cause you are blind in one eye doesn’t mean you purposely close the other one as well.
