Michail Antonio about Kurt Zouma animal abuse incident: ‘Is what he’s done worse than racism?’

Kurt Zouma is in serious trouble over a cat abuse video – he’s already lost his contract with Adidas. Now sponsors are jeopardising West Ham too. We’ll bring you up to speed on the story and give you all the known details.

An unexpected scandal has happened in England: a video of a Frenchman abusing his cat hit the Internet on Tuesday.

The cruel abuse video was filmed by French’s brother Yoan and then posted to Snapchat – it shows Zouma throwing the animal to the floor and kicking it. In other footage, Kurt throws a pair of designer shoes at the cat and punches it in the face. This reaction was due to the animal allegedly broke an expensive vase.

West Ham condemned Zouma’s behaviour and promised an internal investigation. 

The Frenchman himself repented after the video went viral:

“I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy. They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.” 

Animal rights activists are furious and are demanding a trial of Zouma, taking the cats away and kicking him out of the national team. The police have also got involved: 

“We are aware of a video circulating on social media, which captures an incident involving a cat that may seem distasteful to members of our community. We have recently become aware that this incident may have occurred in Essex, we are liaising with the RSPCA and are making enquiries as a matter of urgency.”

RSPCA, the Largest Animal Welfare Charity in the UK, released the statement:

“Our priority is and has always been the wellbeing of these cats. They’ve been taken for a check-up at a vets and then will remain in our care while the investigation continues. We’re grateful to everyone who expressed their concern for these cats. We were dealing with this issue before the video went viral online and are leading the investigation. We continue to investigate so we cannot comment further at this time.”

a spokesperson said.

West Ham have been hit hard over defender Kurt Zouma, who has been accused of animal cruelty. The club were heavily criticised for their decision to field Zouma for the match against Watford on a day when a video of the player kicking a cat went viral on social media.

David Moyes, the coach who is under enormous pressure after this, explained that his job was to pick the best XI available. He said the following:

“The club will sort the other side of it out and I will look after the football side. My feeling was Kurt has apologised and I understand that a lot of people will not just accept an apology I understand that. But to me, he came out and he said that very honestly and as I said before I had to do my job then and that was to pick the best team I possibly could.”

There is a possibility that the club will suffer financially. Travel organisation Experience Kissimmee were the first to announce the pause in their partnership. The body is disappointed with the lack of sanctions from the Londoners against the player: 

“We are now awaiting further information from the team. We will then assess our relationship with West Ham and possible further sponsorship of the team.”

The insurance company Vitality – another major sponsor of the English side, who have been working together since August – then spoke out.

“We are extremely disappointed with the club’s handling of the incident,”

Vitality said.

“We were saddened by the video of Kurt Zouma. Our company does not tolerate violence of any kind. We are suspending our partnership with West Ham and from this day forward we will expect more concrete action from the team to address the issue.”

So far it’s all just pauses, no contracts have been torn up. And to save the money, the club need to find a right way to act.

Michail Antonio, a forward and one of West Ham’s key players, uttered this monologue when asked about teammate Kurt Zouma: 

“I’ve got a question for you: so, do you think what he’s done is worse than racism? I’m not condoning a thing that he’s done – I don’t agree with what he’s done at all – but there are people who have been caught for racism and have played football afterwards.”

“They got punished, they got an eight-game punishment or something like that, but 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?”

The Jamaican brought up the hypocrisy of the difference in sanctions to terrible deeds.

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• Zouma is one of West Ham’s most notorious summer acquisitions, having moved from Chelsea for £30m, and has played 12 times in the Premier League after skipping a number of games due to injury.

• Kurt Zuma’s brother Yoan has been suspended from Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (England’s 5th division club) after his involvement in the circulating footage showing the West Ham player kicking a cat and the RSPCA is now investigating.

• In June, the maximum penalty for animal cruelty was increased from six months to five years. An unlimited fine also awaits those found guilty.