American tennis star Taylor Townsend has apologised after coming below fireplace for feedback she made on social media about Chinese language meals.
The 29-year-old who’s within the Chinese language metropolis of Shenzhen for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, had posted movies on Instagram by which she talked about dishes that featured frogs, turtles and sea cucumber, saying: “That is the craziest factor I’ve ever seen… Imma have to speak to HR… [eating] turtle and bullfrog is WILD.”
She rapidly confronted backlash on each English and Chinese language social media platforms.
Ms Townsend, who’s the world’s top-ranked doubles participant, later apologised saying: “There isn’t any excuse, there is not any phrases and, for me, I might be higher.”
“I perceive that I’m so privileged as an expert athlete to have the ability to journey all around the globe and expertise cultural variations, which is likely one of the issues I really like a lot about what I do,” she mentioned in a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday, including that she had “essentially the most superb expertise” on the event.
Townsend had a day earlier taken to Instagram to share her response to among the meals she noticed being served at a restaurant, together with dishes like braised soft-shell turtle with fish maw and dry pot bullfrog.
These are thought-about conventional delicacies in China, notably within the south.
“These individuals are actually killing frogs… bullfrogs. Aren’t these toxic? Aren’t these those that be supplying you with warts and boils and stuff? And turtles?… All in all I would give this like a stable two out of 10 thus far, as a result of that is loopy,” Ms Townsend mentioned then.
She additionally posted one other video the place she seemed to be at a buffet together with her teammate Hailey Baptiste, with the 2 making enjoyable of a sea cucumber dish.
She was rapidly referred to as out on social media.
“Will not defend Taylor right here, clearly offensive and shocks a lack of information [that] there are completely different cultures aside from USA,” mentioned one person on X.
“It is actually offensive to mock different folks’s cultural meals,” mentioned one other.
Chinese language social media rapidly caught gentle of her feedback, and the hashtag “American tennis participant publicly insults Chinese language meals” began trending.
“While you go abroad, respect the native customs and tradition. You’ll be able to select to not eat it. There isn’t a must belittle our meals,” mentioned one touch upon Weibo.
The most recent backlash comes lower than a month after Ms Townsend received right into a heated confrontation together with her Latvian rival Jelena Ostapenko by which the latter mentioned she had “no class” and “no training”.
Ms Ostapenko apologised however denied being racist, saying her feedback had been in reference to tennis etiquette. “However I perceive how the phrases used might have offended many individuals past the tennis courtroom,” she wrote in an Instagram publish.
Ms Townsend and her teammates are as a result of face Kazakhstan for the quarter finals on Thursday.
