February 11, 2022

The cat-slapping tale involving West Ham’s Kurt Zouma and his brother, Yoan, has rekindled the flames of racism often vainly suppressed by English football authorities.

Zouma and his brother had been under fire, largely from racist White majority, for abusing a cat, videoing the beating and exposing the act on social media.

His brother, Yoan, a footballer himself, has been suspended by his club, Dagenham & Redbridge, from competitive matches until the RSPCA have completed their investigation into a video which showed the Hammers’ player kicking and slapping his pet cat.

The suspension of his brother has put West Ham under fresh pressure to take more drastic actions against Zouma who had already lost his sponsorship deal with Adidas and had his cat removed.

Some have blamed coach David Moyes for fueling the controversy by fielding the centre-back just one day after the video emerged.

Kurt has subsequently been fined ‘the maximum amount’ by West Ham for his actions, believed to be two weeks’ wages.

Some persons were outraged to see that the 27-year-old was chosen from the start against Watford on Tuesday, a game in which he was relentlessly booed as Moyes’ side edged a 1-0 victory.

Dagenham have taken a decisive step with his younger brother, Yoan, and they released a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“Yoan was this week contacted by the RSPCA to assist in their investigation and is fully cooperating with them,” the statement read.

“However, Dagenham & Redbridge FC would again like to reiterate that it condemns any form of cruelty towards animals and fully understands the reaction of many of its supporters.

“The club has therefore decided that until the RSPCA has completed its investigations, Yoan will not play for Dagenham & Redbridge in any competitive match.

“Any further action deemed necessary to be taken will be made at the conclusion of the RSPCA investigation,” the club said.

But some persons have fired back at the authorities and others calling for extreme sanctions against Zouma, claiming a tinge of racism in the rising decibel in the voices of the Zouma attackers.

Both Kurt and his brother, especially Kurt, had been victims of cancel culture in recent days following the video release and the growing ostracism has made many Black players and commentators to suggest there was more of racism in the call-out.

Michail Antonio, an outspoken West Ham player has hinted on racism as he urged critics of Kurt to look in the mirror to see their reactions on occasions where white players had open openly involved in racism.

He said: “I’m not condoning a thing that he’s done. I don’t agree with what he has done at all.

“But there’s people that have been convicted and been caught for racism, and have played football afterwards. They got an eight-game punishment or something like that, but people are now calling for people to be sacked and to lose their livelihood.

“I’ve just got to ask this question to everyone out there: is what he’s [Zouma] done worse than what the people convicted of racism done?”