Former Liverpool goalkeeper, Chris Kirkland took to Twitter to clarify his claim that the video showing Kurt Zouma attacking his cat is worse than racism.
Recently, Kirkland appeared on live television via which he was allowed to talk about the video showing Kurt Zouma slapping and kicking his cat.
Even though the 27-year-old French football star has apologized for his decision to kick and slap his cat, the Frenchman has continued to suffer a backlash from all walks of life.
The backlash against Kurt Zouma grew to an all-time high after West Ham United coach, David Moyes decided to feature him in the club’s 1-0 win over Watford on Tuesday.
Due to that, Vitality and Experience Kissimmee have suspended their sponsorship deal with West Ham United. Zouma has also lost his affiliation with Adidas and has been fined by West Ham United over his attack on the cat.
In the midst of that, Kirkland who was not happy that West Ham United allowed Zouma to play days after a video showed him kicking and slapping a cat, stressed that the English FA should have banned him over the incident.
While appearing on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, the retired English goalkeeper stressed that since the FA could punish a player found guilty of racial abuse and biting an opponent, Zouma should have been punished for attacking his cat.
The retired footballer who is currently the head goalkeeping coach of Colne said: “If this was a racism case, the FA have stepped in and banned the player for six, ten games. Biting; six, ten games. This is worse if anything.
“What is the difference? This is against a defenseless animal, that cannot defend itself. So why the FA haven’t stepped in to ban him for this as well is beyond disbelief.”
After he made these comments, many critics were not happy that Chris Kirkland compared an assault on a cat to racial discrimination of a human being. He was subjected to a series of attacks on social media.
Hence, Kirkland had to post a video on Twitter in an attempt to clarify his comparison of racial abuse to an attack on a cat. He stressed that in racism, humans can defend themselves but animals are defenseless which makes animal abuse worse than racism.
“I know a lot of people seem to be offended and I understand,” Kirkland said on Twitter. “I mentioned racism about if players have been banned before. I know I said that it was possibly worse than that but what I meant was, animals can’t defend themselves, they haven’t got a voice.
“Humans have. Racism is a disgrace. Anyone who does that deserves to be locked up. People know how I feel about that and I don’t need to say that.
“It was just in the context that animals are defenseless and don’t have a voice. So I meant it in that way, not the other way. I hope that clears it up.”
Hopefully this clears the @KurtZouma @WestHam situation up with my comments,absolutely nothing was meant by my comments pic.twitter.com/sK66HLrMNy
— Chris Kirkland (@ChrisKirkland43) February 9, 2022
Kurt Zouma might spend four years in prison
Meanwhile, West Ham United defender, Kurt Zouma could spend four years in French prison over his attack on his cat.
Currently, over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for legal action to be taken against the footballer in France.
Reports claimed that the lawyers working with La Fondation 30 Millions d’Amis, the largest animal rights group in France, have contacted prosecutors over the incident.
Also, recent reports from France claimed that a legal suit has been filed against the footballer in a court in Paris.
Laws in France (Article 113-6 of the French Penal Code) permit that any French citizen that commits a crime outside France can be prosecuted in line with French laws. And according to the French laws, anyone found guilty of maltreating animals could be sentenced to four years in prison.
