PARIS: Japanese video games firm Konami said Wednesday it was scrapping French striker Antoine Griezmann’s role as a brand ambassador over a racism row involving the Barcelona striker and teammate Ousmane Dembele.

“Previously we had announced Antoine Griezmann as our Yu-Gi-Oh! contents ambassador, however in light of recent events we have decided to cancel the contract,” the firm said in a statement alluding to a manga gaming series.

“Konami Digital Entertainment believes, as is the philosophy of sports, that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable,” the company stressed, adding it would be asking Barcelona “as a club partner to explain the details of this case and its future actions.”

The row broke after Dembele had to apologise earlier this week for making racist comments in a video circulating on social media.

Dembele, 24, offered his “sincere apologies” on Monday after a 42-second clip, which he appeared to have made on Snapchat in 2019, was leaked and widely shared on the internet.

The clip shows Dembele, on Barca’s pre-season tour of Japan two years ago, talking to team-mate Griezmann as he waited for local technicians to connect a game console to a television in their hotel room.

Dembele refers to “ugly faces” as the technicians work and appears to mock the Japanese language before asking: “are you advanced in your country or not?”

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AFP