Japanese Video Game Giant Konami Drops Griezmann’s Sponsorship

FC Barcelona’s French attacker Antoine Griezmann has been dropped by Japanese video game giant Konami, one of his biggest sponsors.

The move came after a video from 2019 cropped up where Griezmann and his club and national teammate Ousmane Dembele appeared to make anti-Asian remarks during a trip to Japan.

The video also shows the pair reportedly mocking two Japanese technicians as they try to fix a television in the footballers’ hotel room.

As a result of the video going public, Konami announced its decision to unilaterally rescind its deal with Griezmann.

The company said in a statement: “Konami Digital Entertainment feels, as is the philosophy of sports, that discrimination of any nature is unacceptable. We announced that Antoine Griezmann was becoming our Yu-Gi-Oh! content ambassador, but in light of recent events, we have decided to cancel the contract. In terms of our eFootball PES franchise, we ask that FC Barcelona, as a partner club, explains the details of this matter and its intended future actions.”

FC Barcelona and Konami became partners in 2016, with the La Liga side exclusively appearing in Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer video game series.

FC Barcelona’s main shirt sponsor and its global innovation and entertainment partner, Rakuten, has also asked the La Liga club to explain the controversial videos from the club’s 2019 tour to Japan.

Hiroshi Mikitani, the chief executive of the Japanese ecommerce giant, said,  “Since Rakuten has endorsed Barça’s philosophy and sponsored the club, such statements are unacceptable under any circumstances.”

In November last year FC Barcelona extended their shirt sponsorship deal with Rakuten for the 2021/2022 season. The existing contract, worth almost US$65m annually and signed in 2016, was due to expire at the end of the current La Liga season, but the club exercised an option included in the original agreement to add another year to the deal.

Both Griezmann and Dembele are said to have issued apologies on social media, though many fans have criticised them for their original comments. Sponsors might not take kindly to Griezmann as this is the second time he has been involved in a racial controversy, in December 2017, he had apologised for and deleted a social media post with his blackface photograph at a party.