‘Is it worse than racism?’: Michail Antonio defends Kurt Zouma over calls for West Ham to sack defender

Antonio condemned Zouma’s actions but said calls for the defender to lose his job as a West Ham United player were disproportionate when compared to the punishments for players guilty of racist abuse

A teammate of Kurt Zouma, the West Ham footballer shown violently abusing his pet cat in a disturbing video, has compared the ferocious response to the incident to those caused by players’ racist outbursts.

Michail Antonio asked whether players guilty of abusing other players had been punished more lightly than the 27-year-old Frenchman, who is facing calls to be sacked.

The disturbing footage, which showed Zouma drop-kicking and slapping one of his Bengal cats in front of a child, while his brother laughed behind a camera, caused a strong reaction on social media and elsewhere. Adidas quickly ended its relationship with the player while West Ham’s commercial partners Experience Kissimmee and Vitality have respectively ended and suspended their deals with the club.

The RSPCA has taken the cats into care and continues to investigate the video, while the Met Police are also looking into the incident.

“Two cats are in our care, have been seen by a vet and are being well looked after,” said an RSPCA spokesman. “They will remain in our care while the investigation continues.”

West Ham fined Zouma two weeks’ wages but only after manager David Moyes had picked him for a Premier League match the day after the news first broke. The club has been criticised for their reaction with some commenters, including BBC Sport presenter Gabby Logan, calling for Zouma to be sacked and a petition growing for the player to be prosecuted.

West Ham striker Antonio was asked by Sky Sports whether the punishment for Zouma should have been stronger.

“I’ve got a question for you,” he responded. “Do you think what he’s done is worse than racism? I’m not condoning a thing that he’s done, I don’t agree with what he’s done at all.

“But there’s people who’ve been caught for racism who’ve played football afterwards. They haven’t got punished, they got an eight-game punishment or something like that, but people are now calling for [Zouma] to be sacked, to lose their livelihood.

“I’ve just got to ask this question to everyone out there: is what he’s done worse than what the people have done that are convicted of racism?”

Former Liverpool and England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland said Zouma deserved to be abused in football stadiums. “Everywhere he goes he’s going to be targeted, and rightly so because he deserves all he’s gonna get. He’s brought it all on himself by a sickening video.”

Kirkland added: “If it was a racism case the FA would have stepped in, banned players for six or 10 games. Biting, six or 10 games. This is worse, if anything. This is against a defenceless animal who cannot defend themselves so why the FA have not stepped in to ban him as well for this is beyond disbelief.”

Meanwhile, Zouma’s younger brother, 23-year-old Yoan, has been suspended by his club, Dagenham and Redbridge FC.

Yoan, who is a centre-back like his Premier League sibling, has played six times in the National League for the club he joined in December, having been without a side since the summer.