French Soccer Pretends to be French

Sports have long tolerated, and even encouraged, trash talk, where fans badmouth the opposition players. Not anymore, I guess.

Politico reports:

Amarilla, a senator with the centrist Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), published the posts a day after Paraguay’s elimination to France in a tense round-of-16 World Cup match. She referred to Mbappé as a “brute,” mocked his intelligence and questioned his French identity, describing him as a “colonized Cameroonian pretending to be French.” ...

The French Football Federation announced Monday it would file a criminal complaint. “The racist comments made by Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla toward Kylian Mbappé are utterly vile and unacceptable,” the federation said in a statement. “These statements are criminal and condemnable. They must be prosecuted here and everywhere.”

Criminal prosecution against a foreign politician rooting for the losing team?

France use to be proud of its national identity. Now it staffs its national soccer team with African immigrants.