Chelsea have issued an apology for the behaviour of winger Kenedy, who uploaded a series of offensive posts about China to social media during the Blues’ pre-season tour in the Far East.
The winger took to Instagram to upload a shot of himself along with the added caption ‘Porra China,’ which roughly translates from Portuguese as the equivalent of ‘F*** China’.
Kenedy then uploaded a snap he had taken of a sleeping Chinese security guard, captioning the image: ‘Acorda China Vacilao,’ – again roughly translated to read along the lines of ‘Wake up China idiot.’
The club have immediately moved to rectify the issue, presenting an official statement on their website and social media channels in which they state the player has been ‘been strongly reprimanded and disciplined.’
‘On July 22nd, Chelsea Football Club experienced the warmth and friendliness of Chinese fans at the National Stadium. However, we were surprised and disappointed that one day prior to the match, one of our young players, Kenedy, posted messages on his social media account that caused great offence and hurt the feelings of the people of China,’ the statement opened.
‘Unfortunately, even though he quickly deleted the messages and apologised, and the club also apologised via our Chinese social media channels, the damage had already been done. Chelsea Football Club once again solemnly and sincerely apologises.
‘Kenedy’s actions were a mistake that he will learn greatly from. His behaviour does not represent the entire team and does not align with the club’s high expectations and strict requirements of its young players. He has been strongly reprimanded and disciplined,’ the club added.
The statement was also presented in its entirety in Chinese, and comes directly after thousands of fans turned out to watch the Blues in the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
Kenedy himself also acted to clear up the situation, writing a message to his online followers in which he said: ‘Hello my friends, just wanna say sorry if someone was sad because I used the expression “porra”, was no racism, just an expression…big hug.’
By Mail Sport
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