Football player who kicked his cat

[GreenLunchBox]

DISCLAIMER
Just in case this thread pops up in “Active”. This is a contribution to the Black Mumsnetters board which was established to be a safe space for black women and allies to discuss issues of interest black women, from racism to African history, from black hair care to culture-specific issues in relationships. If you feel triggered, nothing here is an attack on you. I would hate for a thread centering black experience to be hijacked so that it ends about centering those who may have hurt feelings because this discussion may be uncomfortable for them. Thank you!

When I read the Kurt Zouma story and watched the video I was disgusted and outraged. But I feel the backlash has gone beyond any heights it would have reached if the perpetrator was not black

He's received racist abuse (of course!), sponsors have rightly dropped him, there is talk of him being prosecuted in his home country of France and his cats have been removed. He has been fined £250,000. Still people are baying for blood. A football pundit says that he will be abused everywhere he goes from now on and it's right because what he did is worse than the racist abuse black players get.

Once I heard that comment I suddenly I stopped caring about the issue of the cat. Black people are seen as worth less than cats, clearly. I'm fed up.

I've been quite close to the story through my work, and the racial abuse and hate speech is shocking. Statements thrown around insinuating its standard behaviour for his "culture", implying he acted like an animal/person not fit for society, all with an undertone its because hes black that he did this.

Some of the shit white footballers have pulled is disgusting and they seem to wriggle out of it with their careers mostly intact, they certainly never get people joining the dots between shitty behaviour and race.

Its absolutely vile and so completely accepted in society.

Some of the shit white footballers have pulled is disgusting and they seem to wriggle out of it with their careers mostly intact, they certainly never get people joining the dots between shitty behaviour and race.

Exactly. When they actually stopped a game to applaud John Terry when he retired I was sick in my mouth. Thankfully I've not seen the bastard since.

Carragher actually spat at a child and kept his job. I don't remember any boos for him 🤔🙄

It’s a puzzle isn’t it?

I’ve been fond of a few cats in my life - but I’m always surprised when there is more outrage over ill treatment of animals than over ill treatment of (some) human beings.

Slightly different, but this came out recently too, and sums up a lot for me.

news.sky.com/story/chelseas-edouard-mendy-hits-out-after-media-outlets-mistake-him-for-man-city-star-benjamin-mendy-whos-been-charged-with-rape-12471419

"Edouard Mendy described the "mistakes" as "symbolic" and said it was "sad to see... black people have neither names nor distinct faces"."

Guilty by association, simply for being black. The closest I can think of it happening to a white man was Ian Watkins. The public got mixed up with the Lost Prophets paedophile vs the innocent Steps singer - but the actual press never got it wrong.

Bloody hell. They look nothing alike

It's like when the papers also got Stormzy mixed up with Lukaku.

I'm sick of this.

Black footballer buys house:"HOW DARE HE!" White footballer buys house:"Aww, bless him"
www.si.com/soccer/manchestercity/.amp/news/heroes-and-villains-harry-maguire-and-raheem-sterling-how-racism-corrupts-the-medias-portrayal-of-english-footballers

This story actually talks about Harry Maguire being arrested for assault. You don't remember that?! Shock! I wonder why.

I think unfortunately there is a type of person who will be an activist to justify their prejudices. For example, there was a prominent case of sexual abuse near my home and many people came out to abuse the perpetrators but I do wonder if many of them would have stepped up in defence of these girls if it didn’t give them an excuse to air their racist views on the group the perpetrators belonged to. Racists can be very clever in grasping an awful incident and using it to their advantage.

However, I do not feel sorry for Zouma in being dropped from his shockingly high paid job and facing prosecution. I think the racist abuse should also be appropriately dealt with by authorities but it’s my opinion that any sports figure or celebrity found to behave in these disgraceful ways should lose the incredible luxuries of the high flying lifestyle, brand deals, sponsors etc. I certainly wouldn’t want him associated with my brand or club for good reason. It’s just a shame that so often some people get away with it. So I guess my position would not be that Zouma should not have been prosecuted and dropped, but that anyone who behaves like this should be.

@Kanaloa

I think unfortunately there is a type of person who will be an activist to justify their prejudices. For example, there was a prominent case of sexual abuse near my home and many people came out to abuse the perpetrators but I do wonder if many of them would have stepped up in defence of these girls if it didn’t give them an excuse to air their racist views on the group the perpetrators belonged to. Racists can be very clever in grasping an awful incident and using it to their advantage.

However, I do not feel sorry for Zouma in being dropped from his shockingly high paid job and facing prosecution. I think the racist abuse should also be appropriately dealt with by authorities but it’s my opinion that any sports figure or celebrity found to behave in these disgraceful ways should lose the incredible luxuries of the high flying lifestyle, brand deals, sponsors etc. I certainly wouldn’t want him associated with my brand or club for good reason. It’s just a shame that so often some people get away with it. So I guess my position would not be that Zouma should not have been prosecuted and dropped, but that anyone who behaves like this should be.

The point is the public/FA come down much harder on a black footballer. Using OP's Carragher spitting incident, he was only suspended but kept his job. If say Ian Wright had spat at a child I can guarantee the consequences would have been more... permanent.

If our own elected politicians don't lose their jobs and are not expected to be role models I don't agree that someone who is paid to kick a ball should be held to a higher standard

Yes I addressed that in my post? I said that I think ANY celebrity should be prosecuted and dropped from their celebrity labels if found to behave like this and I think the racist abuse is wrong and should be dealt with/stopped (although of course as so much is online I don’t know how they’d do it).

I also said I don’t feel sorry for Zouma for being dropped and I feel he behaved disgustingly. Although I disagree with the racial abuse I don’t disagree with him being penalised. Of course I feel Carragher should have faced same/similar appropriate penalties.

But we live in Trumpian Britain so I fully expect the government to get away with everything and immigrants to be disproportionately overpunished for any misdemeanor

@Kanaloa sorry, it's late and I was more expanding on your post than disagreeing with it

However, I do not feel sorry for Zouma in being dropped from his shockingly high paid job and facing prosecution.

"Shockingly high paid"

His employers obviously think he gives them value for money or he wouldn't command that pay

Anyway, has he been dropped? I'm no longer following the story because it's infuriating me

If he's been dropped then I guess he's being paid £125k a week to do nothing! Not sure it's the fans winning there!

Sorry I have seen this in active, not sure if I can post here as I’m not black but on my local cat group people are going to town with this, no one is actually saying anything racist which makes it even more frustrating as I just don’t think some of these people care that much for the cats, even though they’re on a cat group. Problem is usually i stand up to racism, even subtle racism but sometimes it’s hard to prove and you just get gaslighted when you question them.

Ofcourse I definitely don’t feel sorry for him for his crime but seeing a bunch of Middle aged white men calling him all sorts who are very careful not to use racist words makes my blood boil. Calling out him being paid too much etc when it’s never bothered them before about white players, suddenly these men care so much about cats that they’re out with their pitchforks. See right through it and I say that as a cat lover. We mustn’t get sucked in and we must question everything and that doesn’t take away from how serious what he did is but I’m so sick of the emotive language where his cats are concerned.

It's just the same old different standard being applied, depending on race.

Footballers such as Paul Gascogne beat up his wife, yet even to this day he's seen as a lovable rogue.

Stan Collymore beat up Ulrika Jonnson and there were headlines for days, he was vilified then and ever since.

I haven't seen the cat video, just heard the stories. Of course it was a terrible thing to do to an innocent animal, but it does strike me as a completely disproportionate public response; has the man who was filmed whipping his horses been fined, or sacked from anything? Thought not.

@Starseeking

It's just the same old different standard being applied, depending on race.

Footballers such as Paul Gascogne beat up his wife, yet even to this day he's seen as a lovable rogue.

Stan Collymore beat up Ulrika Jonnson and there were headlines for days, he was vilified then and ever since.

I haven't seen the cat video, just heard the stories. Of course it was a terrible thing to do to an innocent animal, but it does strike me as a completely disproportionate public response; has the man who was filmed whipping his horses been fined, or sacked from anything? Thought not.

This. Also look how what had happened to the cat, was on the news for days. Look on Active and see how many posters have added their two pence worth, castigating him. Yet the man who beat the horse has a fraction of the number of post. These same posters would shout any one down for daring to say it is clear why Zouma is getting so much hate.

British (?) football culture is inherently racist, sexist and a hotbed of aggression and violence. I see it every single day. If the target is not a white male, they will get untold, completely disproportionate abuse. Add the media to the mix who will feed into any angle that will trigger a clickbait response, and the end result is that white footballers are held to a lower standard than black footballers.

A football pundit says that he will be abused everywhere he goes from now on and it's right because what he did is worse than the racist abuse black players get

Pundit is just doing what all racists do - everything has to be compared as "worse than racism" we see it in media & on MN threads all the time

In the same way that kicking a cat is worse than beating up a woman a la Paul Gascoigne, I suppose.

I love cats, hate what Zouma did but the baying hypocrisy of middle aged White men and their supporters doesnt surprise me at all.

The White man who whipped that poor horse 10+ tines will no doubt be just fine

Disclaimer: I'm a white immigrant living in the UK

A lot of comments surrounding this event have shocked me, but none more so than those coming from "pseudo" allies urging us to consider that harming animals might be "normal" in his "culture" (as a mitigation factor).

I'm still speechless!

PS: Also, isn't he French?

I'm not into football and I feel humans shouldn't breed animals for pets. So I'm shocked that people who love football, see nothing wrong with domestication animals, eat meat with blood oozing out of it, never complain about shooting birds for sport or fox hunting for fun and in fact view it as morally acceptable/decent and aspirational are calling for this guy to loose his job and be imprisoned. They're not asking that he be made to volunteer at a cat shelter, attend training and education about pet welfare etc. They just need him poor and suffering. Their jealousy is palpable!! What has his career got to do with making him love animals better?!

@IBelieveInAThingCalledScience

Disclaimer: I'm a white immigrant living in the UK

A lot of comments surrounding this event have shocked me, but none more so than those coming from "pseudo" allies urging us to consider that harming animals might be "normal" in his "culture" (as a mitigation factor).

I'm still speechless!

PS: Also, isn't he French?

Are they alluding to the same being cultural about the man who was beating his horse? Thought not.

He drop kicked a cat and hit it across the face. It's a captive animal that can't escape and it wasn't the first time it happened. The woman who beat her horse lost her job. Zouma won't lose his. It's not jealousy to demand that he be held to account in some way. Its totally unacceptable behaviour and on top of that he filmed and laughed at his actions. The idea that people think black people are worth less than cats is ridiculous. But I hold that poor cat in higher esteem than him.

has the man who was filmed whipping his horses been fined, or sacked from anything? Thought not.

He should be. Absolutely there should be no double standards. However the white female teacher who was filmed hitting and kicking her horse was sacked from her job and rightly so.