Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele apologise for video mocking hotel staff in Barcelona pre-season tour

The video surfaced online during Barcelona's pre-season tour of Japan ahead of the 2019/20 campaign; Barcelona and France duo Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele have said sorry for any offence which was caused by their actions

By Reuters

Image: Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have apologised for a video that appeared online two years ago which appeared to show them mocking hotel workers

Barcelona forwards Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have apologised for a video released in 2019 which appeared to mock hotel staff in Japan, but denied their comments were racist.

The video, recorded by Dembele during Barcelona's pre-season tour of Japan ahead of the 2019/20 season, was leaked on social media and showed both players laughing at a group of hotel staff who were working to fix a television.

"It all took place in Japan. It could've taken place anywhere on the planet and I would've used the same expression," Dembele wrote on Instagram.

"I was therefore not targeting any community. I just happened to use this type of expression with my friends regardless of their origins.

Image: Griezmann and Dembele were involved in France's Euro 2020 campaign as Didier Deschamps' side were knocked out in the last 16

"This video has since been made public. I appreciate therefore that it could've hurt the people present in these images. Because of this, I would like to sincerely apologise to them."

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Griezmann said he was "completely against all forms of discrimination".

"For the past few days, certain people have wanted to paint me as someone that I am not," he said on Twitter. "I firmly refute the accusations made against me and I'm sorry if I have offended any of my Japanese friends."

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The pair recently featured for France at Euro 2020, where the world champions were knocked out by Switzerland in the round-of-16 following a penalty shootout.

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