Hardly a day would pass without Kurt Zouma trending on social media and for all the wrong reasons created by those that control and direct the narrative.So the uninitiated Kurt Zouma is a black French player who plays club football at West Ham United in the English Premier League. Last week ‘disturbing’ video emerged of him hitting, dropping and kicking his pet across his kitchen floor. That video went viral with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals the most vocal citing animal abuse.
He apologised but subsequently lost an Adidas endorsement deal followed by one West Ham sponsor withdrawing because they felt the club had stood by the player. I have followed the debates for and against Zouma’s actions and I must admit there is merit on both sides of the argument. Those against the decision taken against Zouma argue that he is being persecuted because he is black while others have cited the hunting and killing of lions and elephants for their trophies as abuse of animals. In certain cultures across Asia, Europe, Oceania and Americas, cats are not necessarily deemed as pets but rather as sishebo. So who then determines which animal should be called a pet or meat? But again rules are rules and any infringement requires liability.
Generally, Americans see goats as pets while in Africa, it’s a delicacy. Adidas is known to use leather from culled animals to make their products but again “cull” is just a nice name to obstruct focus of animal rights groups. And they define culling as the process or reducing an animal population to suit its habitat but it remains killing and no-one is making noise about their actions is there?
What is being said about fox hunters, fly fishing, pigeon shooting and horse racing which sees them getting flogged all in pursuit of a commercial result.
Many other players have done horrible things in the past – you remember Eden Hazard kicked a ball boy in 2013 and received an automatic three-match ban. December 2011, Luis Suarez then with Liverpool, was handed an eight-match ban and a fine by the FA after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra having told him that he does not speak to blacks. The same Suarez was used by Adidas in an advert after he had sunk his “bugs bunny” teeth into Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini shoulder. Those that have read George Orwell’s Animal Farm will be able to decode this confusion.
