AFTV has once again embarrassed Arsenal and this time it really is not just their foul mouth attacks on our own players but outright racism by one of their contributors, Claude.
First and foremost let’s have some context so that everyone knows exactly what has occurred.
At the exact moment that Tottenham’s Son Heung-min was being substituted Claude said “DVDs going off” as can clearly be heard in the following clip.
Now, any reference to an Asian with the words DVD in a specific context is racism, that is well known and something that Son has been subjected to before.
For further evidence of the word DVD being used against Son in a racist manner please take the time to read this report from The Guardian on the racist abuse the South Korean was subjected to by Millwall fans, the term DVD is mentioned clearly.
Naturally, this has been pounced upon and rightfully so, it is racist, regardless who it is about or who said it.
Robbie knew full well he could not avoid this and invited Claude on to AFTV to explain away his comments.
Well, according to Claude he was saying that Spurs were going to bring out a DVD because they won the game, which still was not over at that point.
You can watch Claude’s explanation in this video that Robbie has rushed out.
This, to me, really is not subjective, Claude said what he said as clear as day and his explanation simply does not stand up otherwise he would not have used those words. They just do not make sense said the way they were if he really meant that Spurs would bring out a DVD to celebrate the win.
But just as shocking as the racist comment from Claude is the fact that Robbie just accepted the explanation.
Think about the times we are in right now and ask yourself if something similar was said from another Youtube channel against an Arsenal player in that manner what would the reaction from Robbie and AFTV be.
They would be screaming blue murder and rightfully so. Racism simply cannot be accepted in any form and that is the key phrase here, in any form.
There is no chance of racism being eradicated if an Arsenal channel with over 1 million subscribers operated by a black man with a mix of cultures among it’s contributors casually accepting racism against an Asian footballer by one of its own staff members.
Claude’s excuse simply does not stand up and in any other scenario, Robbie would not have accepted that explanation.
AFTV had a massive opportunity to make a clear statement here and they chose not to.
That is on them now and the words AFTV and Racism now go together for all the wrong reasons. Shame on them.
UPDATE
AFTV has pulled the sorry excuse for a video trying to exonerate Claude, here is part of it saved to a Twitter account. Seems the backlash is forcing AFTV to finally act. Too little too late.
