The American tennis star Taylor Townsend has apologized after being under fire for comments she made on social media about Chinese food.
The 29-year-old who is in the Chinese city of Shenzhen for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, had posted videos on Instagram in which she spoke about dishes with frogs, turtles and sea cucumber and said: “This is the craziest thing I have ever seen … Imma has to talk to HR … [eating] Turtle and Bullfrog is wild. “
She was quickly confronted with play on both English and Chinese social media platforms.
Mrs. Townsend, who is the world’s top belt player, later apologized and said: “There is no excuse, there are no words and I will be better for me.”
“I understand that I am as privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all over the world and experience cultural differences, what is one of the things I like about what I do,” she said in a video that was posted on Instagram on Wednesday, and added that she had “the most amazing experience” on the tournament.
Townsend had brought to Instagram the day before to share her reaction on a part of the food she saw were served in a restaurant, including dishes such as stewed soft-shell turtle with vismaw and dry pot bullfrog.
These are considered traditional delicacies in China, especially in the south.
“These people literally kill frogs … Bullfrogs. Are they not toxic? Are they not those who cook and cook and give you? And turtles? … All in all, I would give this as a solid two of the 10 so far, because this is crazy,” said Mrs. Townsend then.
She also posted another video in which she seemed to be in a buffet with her teammate Hailey Baptiste, with the two who laugh at a sea cucumber dish.
She was quickly called on social media.
‘Do not defend Taylor here, clearly offensive and a lack of understanding [that] There are other cultures different from the US, “said a user on X.
“It is really offensive to mock the cultural food of other people,” said another.
Chinese social media quickly caught light of her comments and the hashtag “American Tennis Player insults public Chinese food” started trending.
“If you go abroad, respect the local habits and culture. You can choose not to eat it. It is not necessary to belittle our food,” said a comment about Weibo.
The last return comes less than a month after Mrs. Townsend had come into a heated confrontation with her Latvian rival Jelena Ostapenko in which he said that she had “no class” and “no education”.
Mrs. Ostapenko apologized but denied being racist and said that her comments were related to tennis tennis. “But I understand how the words used could have insulted many people outside the tennis court,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Mrs. Townsend and her teammates face Kazakhstan for the quarterfinals on Thursday.
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