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Michail Antonio has given a powerful response when asked about the situation at West Ham with Kurt Zouma

Published

2 years ago

February 10, 2022

Michail Antonio has issued a powerful response when asked if his West Ham teammate Kurt Zouma deserves a more severe punishment for kicking and slapping his pet cat..

Zouma has been universally condemned for his actions after an awful video went viral on social media earlier this week.

Animal charity the RSPCA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) have taken Zouma’s two cats away and are currently liasing with Essex Police about the incident.

West Ham surprised many by starting Zouma in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win over Watford.

The French defender was booed by both sets of fans at times during the match.

The following day, it was announced that Zouma had been fined two weeks’ wages – a reported £250,000. This money will be donated to animal welfare charities.

Some sponsors, including Adidas, have also cut ties with both Zouma and West Ham following the incident.

Meanwhile, a petition calling for Zouma to be prosecuted has now received more than 270,000 signatures from the general public.

“I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video,” Zouma, who joined West Ham from Chelsea in 2021, said this week. “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.”

Despite Zouma’s apology, though, there are many people who firmly believe that he deserves to face much tougher consequences for his actions.

However, Zouma’s teammate Antonio spoke to Sky Sports while on his way into training on Thursday morning and gave a powerful response when asked if the defender deserved a harsher punishment.

Antonio asked the reporter: “I’ve got a question for you: do you think what he’s done is worse than racism?”

When the reporter replied that animal cruelty and racism are two separate issues, Antonio continued: “I’m not condoning a thing that he’s done. I don’t agree with what he’s done, at all.

“But there’s people that have been convicted in court for racism and have then played football afterwards.

“They got punished, an eight-game punishment or something like that, but people are now calling for people to be sacked and to lose their livelihood.

“I’ve just got to ask this question to everyone out there: is what he’s done worse than what the people the people convicted of racism have done?”

Watch the interview here:

Michail Antonio has given a powerful response when asked about the situation at West Ham with Kurt Zouma. pic.twitter.com/epXxAkkfLU
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 10, 2022