A vile scenery has dimmed the aura of the 2022 World Cup as videos of Argentina fans aiming racist chants at Kylian Mbappe and the French squad surfaced online.
A group of Argentina fans in Qatar for the World Cup were spotted in the video singing vile racist and transphobic chants at the French team and Kylian Mbappe on live television.
The supporters, who were being interviewed live on TyC Sports TV – a renowned sports channel in Argentina – wore Argentina shirts and were asked to perform a chant while being interviewed.
The fans sang that France players were ‘all from Angola’ and chanted ‘they f* transvestites like f*ing Mbappe’, apparently referring to the PSG star’s reported romance with transgender model Ines Rau.
Deciphering how offensive the song is, the reporter who conducted the interview quickly asked them to stop.
His intervention was quite late as the chants was already aired with its derogatory and racist remarks.
He eventually panned away from the supporters and labeled the songs as ‘censored.’
A clip of the interview went viral on social media in Qatar, with retweets numbering up to 20,000 after it was posted on Twitter.
Meanwhile, only one member of the French World Cup squad is from Angola – Eduardo Camavinga.
Camavinga was born in Angola, where he grew up in a refugee camp before his family left Angola for France when he was just two years old. Camavinga, 20, is now a top Real Madrid midfielder and will represent the French national team for the first time at the World Cup.
Apart from Mbappe, another purported target of the Argentine’s racist chants is Rau.
Rau was the first trans woman to be Playmate of the month after appearing in the popular men’s magazine in 2017.
Rau had documented how she went on a surgical operation to reassign her gender at the age of 16.
However, Rau kept her true identity secret for eight complete years before revealing it when she turned 24
Mbappe and Rau are reportedly in a relationship. The duo were spotted together at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
However, they are yet to publicly make a statement on the nature of their relationship.
As of the time of filing this report, FIFA is yet to respond to the racist chants.
France and Argentina met in the Round of 16 in the 2018 World Cup, where they knocked out the South American giants.
This time, they are not in the same group, but they could meet again in the Round of 16 after the Group stages.
Both sides are deemed among the top favorites to win the competition, with France hopeful of defending the trophy they won four years ago in Russia.
However, while the French squad has been marred with injuries, with the likes of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante ruled out, Argentina have their best legs available for the tournament.
