Felix Afena-Gyan and Jose Mourinho were filmed when the coach gave the young striker the new shoes as promised, but in the background there was a controversial comment destroying a beautiful moment.
Mourinho revealed after the 2-0 win over Genoa that he promised Felix he would buy him the shoes he wanted if he scored.
Felix, in fact, scored a brace and gave the Giallorossi three vital points in the battle for top four in Genoa.
Mourinho kept his promise and delivered the shoes today, the player himself later sent a message on social media to thank Mourinho for the gift.
“I’m extremely delighted. Grateful to coach Jose Mourinho,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.
But the nice moment between the starlet and the Portuguese coach was ruined by a voice in the background.
Felix clarifies: ‘No racist intent, people have got the wrong idea’
When Felix is unboxing the shoes, you can hear one of the people behind the camera make the ‘banana’ comment towards the Ghanaian player.
“There are bananas inside,” a voice says when Felix is opening the box, ruining a beautiful moment.
Felix later clarified he was ‘not offended’ by the comment, as it referred to a joke about him eating a lot of bananas. He wrote a message on Instagram saying ‘people got the wrong idea’.
🔴 Promessa mantenuta: #Mourinho ha regalato le scarpe a @ohenegyanfelix9! ✅ #ASRoma #Felix pic.twitter.com/1rmndJw8kg
— Jacopo Aliprandi (@AliprandiJacopo) November 22, 2021
I’m extremely delighted. Grateful to Mister #JoseMourinho @ASRomaEN 💛❤ pic.twitter.com/SPuRpZlpjo
— Felix Afena Ohene-Gyan (@ohenegyanfelix9) November 22, 2021
Before you scream or accuse racism. Wait to understand the context. Bananas aren’t racist and it could very well be that a discussion was made prior regarding them which could entail an inside joke. I think the player would be able
To call out what the person said if it was offensive, I also doubt someone knowingly being filmed/recorded would try to be racist flat out, that’s pretty idiotic. Stop fuelling hate and problems , fight racist acts when it occurs and is proven , but saying there’s bananas without fully knowing the context form the person who said it, who could be black, friend etc and player is totally wrong. Shame.
It actually sounds like an innocent joke about there being something not worth much inside. Surely when they asked him to dance it was more racist
Oh God, journalist…. Go read his Instagram story!!! He explained about it, because He often seen eat Bananas at trigoria. He likes to eat banana, that’s why the voice said something like that! Its not racist, they’re family.. Make sure something is right before publishing a story.. Geez..
It is well established that the media needs to be very careful when reporting on suicides because of fears of copycats.
The media needs to start taking the same approach with racism. The more it gets the reported (including incorrectly as here), the more the perception grows that it is widespread which in turn fuels more racism (not less).
There’s a balance to be struck in calling it out. It needs to happen but it’s a very delicate issue that needs to be handled in a certain way, and it can be disastrous if the wrong call is made (as here).
Instead focus on the positive side of multiculturalism and diversity.
The kid has not funny grasped racism yet. He just wants to play football.