AFTV’s Claude Callegari has been indefinitely removed from his role after aiming racist remarks over Heung Min Son during a live stream of the North London Derby.
While the winger was making his way towards the substitute bench in stoppage time, Claude could be heard saying “DVD’s going off”.
Son is subbed off and Claude says “DVDs going off”. The constant casual racism towards Son is a joke pic.twitter.com/jOcG6XWbzs
— Mo (@thfcmo) July 13, 2020
Calling an Asian “DVD” is a common racist slur west of Asia. It is a common notion that Asians sell DVDs from market stalls from their perspective. The same slur was used against Son at the London Stadium where a West Ham fan was found guilty and was imposed a fine of £184.
AFTV’s response
AFTV head Robbie Lyle organized another video with Claude to give him a platform to explain and apologize, but Claude did not apologize for the comment. He, in turn, claimed that the DVD comment was hinted at Tottenham Hotspurs as he actually said ‘another DVD will be coming out’ rather than ‘DVD’s going off’.
Absolutely disgraceful and pitiful response from Robbie and Claude from AFTV. At no point did Robbie point out that Claude made the DVD comment the exact moment Son was being substituted. Glossing over racism once again. Shameful #AFTVOUT #GETOUTOFOURCLUB pic.twitter.com/GIy7dPmaq0
— Fun With Flares (@Funwithflares) July 14, 2020
After the video was posted, Robbie Lyle revealed on his personal Twitter account that Claude has been removed indefinitely removed from the platform. Moreover, Claude will have to undergo an ake an education program to ‘understand the full severity of the remark’ he made against the player. Here is Lyle’s statement:
“I would like to sincerely apologize for the derogatory remark heard on the AFTV live stream on Sunday, and for the response video that we put out today where we failed to apologize and take onus for the comment.
“As a channel that has millions of viewers around the world, I fully recognize the power that comments made by myself or people on our platform have, and it is paramount that we do not allow comments of this nature to be made in any form.
“As such, it is only appropriate that Claude is removed from the channel indefinitely. In no way do I or AFTV condone racism of any kind and it is important we take appropriate action in line with the comment made.
AFTV, founded in 2012, has 1.2 million subscribers at the moment and in recent years apart from the analysis and opinions has been a part of the culture as well.
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