Victor Osimhen, a striker for Napoli and the Super Eagles, has spoken out after receiving jeers from his team.
This week, the Serie A club team made headlines when they uploaded videos to their TikTok account ridiculing Osimhen, prompting the latter’s attorney to threaten legal action.
The first video posted showed the 24-year-old appealing for a penalty, with sped-up audio captioned ‘Gimme penalty please’ before showing him taking a spot-kick wide.
A second video from the club’s account compared Osimhen to a ‘coconut’ which is viewed as a racial slur.
Napoli refused to apologize for their controversial social media post which appeared to mock Victor Osimhen, insisting they ‘never intended to offend’ their star striker.
Napoli’s social media executive recently stepped down from his role over the offensive TikTok videos aimed at the Super Eagles striker.
Osimhen has now spoken out by calling for unity while thanking fans for the love and kindness they have shown him.
A statement read: “Coming to the city of Naples in 2020 was a wonderful decision for me. The people of Napoli have shown me so much love and kindness, and I will not allow anyone to come between us”.
“The passion of the people of Naples fuels my fire to always play with my heart and soul, and the love for the badge is unwavering as I wear it with pride”.
“The accusations against people of Naples are untrue. I have a lot of friends that are Napolitans and have become part of my family and everyday life. I appreciate Nigerians and everyone for leading their voices to support and reach out to me”.
“I’m forever grateful. Let’s support unity, respect and understanding. FORZA NAPOLI SEMPRE ”
Osimhen, 24, initially reacted by deleting all but one reference to Napoli on his social media account.
