Michail Antonio asks if Kurt Zouma cat-kicking act is worse than racism
West Ham striker Michail Antonio has questioned why there are calls for team-mate Kurt Zouma to be sacked for kicking and slapping a cat when footballers convicted of racism are still allowed to play professionally.
Zouma has faced a fierce backlash after he was film kicking the cat in his £2million mansion - and Antonio suggested the public reaction has been too severe when he spoke to reporters outside West Ham's training ground.
Sponsors Adidas have dumped him and West Ham were already counting the cost of their controversial decision to stick by their man and start Zouma in Tuesday night's Premier League match against Watford, with life insurance company Vitality suspending their £500,000-a-year sponsorship.
'I've got a question for you,' Antonio responded when asked about Zouma's actions as he drove into West Ham's training ground.
'Do you think, what he's done is worse than racism?
'I'm not condoning a thing that he's done – I don't agree with a thing that he's done at all. But there's people that have been convicted in court for racism and that has played football afterwards. They got punished, they got a eight-game ban or something like that.
'But people are now calling for [Zouma] to be sacked, people to be sacked and lose their livelihood. I've just got to ask this question to everyone out there is, is what he's done worse than what the people have done who have been convicted for racism?'
It's not clear which racism court convictions Michail Antonio was referring to this morning, given that no high-profile footballers have ever been found guilty in criminal proceedings.
