ANTONIO RESPONDS
MICHAIL ANTONIO has given a powerful response following West Ham team-mate Kurt Zouma's horrific cat attack.
The 27-year-old Frenchman has received widespread criticism for the sickening clip which showed him kicking and slapping his pet cat.
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After The Sun revealed the video earlier this week, West Ham boss David Moyes still selected the centre-back to start the Hammers' clash against Watford on Tuesday.
This received a huge amount of backlash as people called for the defender to be punished.
Since then, he has had his cats removed by the RSPCA and been fined £250,000 by the club - which will be donated to animal welfare charities.
Sponsor Adidas have also cancelled his contract worth £100,000 a year.
And Antonio turned things around on an interviewer when he was quizzed about the incident.
The West Ham striker said: "I've got a question for you. So, do you think what he has done is worse than racism?"
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To which the interviewer responded: "It's two different things isn't it."
Antonio then continued: "I'm not condoning a thing that he has done. I don't agree with what he has done at all.
"But there's people that have been convicted and caught for racism and they have played football afterwards.
"They got punished, they got an eight-game punishment or something like that. But people are now calling for people to be sacked, to lose their livelihood.
"I've just got to ask this question to everybody out there. Is what he's done [Zouma] worse than what the people have done that are convicted for racism?"
It comes as:
- Zouma is dropped by sponsors Adidas and Vitality
- The RSPCA confirmed it has seized the player's two cats - and says it was investigating before video emerged on social media
- The star could face four years in a French prison
- He has also been axed from the squad and fined £250,000
- David Moyes says he's an "animal lover" but his job is to "try and win" after Zouma played 90 minutes against Watford
- More than 150,000 people have signed a petition calling for the ace to be prosecuted
Following West Ham's 1-0 win over Watford on Tuesday night, Moyes justified selecting Zouma by insisting his role as manager is to pick the best team available.
He said: "I am really disappointed and the club have taken all the actions that they can do at the moment.
"They are working on that behind the scenes. My job is to pick the best team for West Ham and Kurt [Zouma] was part of that team.
"I am a big animal lover. As I said, my job is to try and win for West Ham and to put out the best team for that.
"I think the club would rather deal with it all in time and they will let you know what the action is."
Meanwhile, France national team coach Didier Deschamps has condemned Zouma's actions but refused to rule out calling him up again in the future.
Both of Zouma's pets have been seized by the RSPCA.
The charity is conducting an investigation. It has its own powers of prosecution, meaning that Zouma could yet appear in the dock.
An online petition calling for the Met Police to launch a probe too has netted more than 150,000 signatures so far.
Meanwhile, the crisis is only deepening for Zouma.
He has lost his Adidas footwear sponsorship, and cops in France say he could face four years behind bars.
The defender issued a grovelling apology and said both of his cats are "perfectly fine".
“I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret," he said.
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“I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy.
“They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”
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