What was he thinking? Griezmann dons the costume that has gone down terribly with the world
What was he thinking? Griezmann dons the costume that has gone down terribly with the world
French footballer Antoine Griezmann caused a Social Media frenzy on Sunday night when he uploaded a picture of himself dressed as a Harlem Globetrotter, and making his skin appear black.
The Atletico Madrid hot shot has scored an own goal with this one. Heading out in fancy dress for his team’s Christmas Party, Greizmann posted the snap around 22:00. Cue a severe backlash…
Reaction to the Antoine Griezmann costume
There are so, so many different options for an 80’s party, or a night out at the darts for that matter, that don’t involve blackface. I can’t believe we’re out here in 2017 saying don’t dress up in blackface. https://t.co/TzqsVdSOeg
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 17, 2017
You know what the worst thing about that bloody calamity by Griezmann is? Him blackfacing adds nothing to the costume. He’s not dressed as a specific person.
— bri (@Xhakaed) December 17, 2017
Crazy how much money UEFA has spent on their NO TO RACISM campaign only for Griezmann to set them back 30 years with 1 tweet
— Para (@TheParacelsus) December 17, 2017
The French striker went on to apologise for his actions, and deleted his initial tweet. However, his defence of his actions wasn’t well received either. He said his costume was a ‘tribute, not intended to be racist’ and prefixed the tweet with ‘calm down’: Perhaps the worst possible thing anyone could say to an angry crowd of Twitter users!
Antoine did eventually apologise in a follow-up tweet almost two hours after posting the picture. He admitted to making a mistake, and said sorry to anyone he may have offended:
Je reconnais que c’est maladroit de ma part. Si j’ai blessé certaines personnes je m’en excuse.
— Antoine Griezmann (@AntoGriezmann) December 17, 2017
‘Blackface’ costume lambasted by internet
Context is a magnificent thing. We’ve no doubt that his teammates of all different races were in on the joke. However, as a professional footballer in the 21st century, this is unarguably a terrible decision.
Everything from the idea to blacking up in the first place, to sharing the snap on social media is horrendously thought-out. Antoine probably needs to brush up on his history. And find a new PR adviser immediately.
