Pundit Gregory Paisley, a former Paris Saint-Germain defender, was working for the channel during the game today.
When talking about Nigeria’s Wilfred Ndidi, he said the player “should take Banania”, a chocolate drink which has connotations of colonialism and French imperialism.
Twitter users were quick to condemn the remarks, although some leaped to the 41-year-old’s defence.
A statement from the channel read: “BeIN SPORTS regrets that some of the comments that were [broadcast] during the Nigeria-Iceland match may have been judged offensive by some of you. [We] apologise to all the people who felt hurt and offended.”
Paisley later said: “I said Banania as I could have said Poulain, Benco or Nesquik.
“I think that when you’re short of strength, that’s what you take in the morning, so that’s why I said Banania. I specify that one of my best friends is Senegalese and so that at no time I could say anything bad about Africans.”
Comments
Post a Comment