Controversy and results just doesn’t seem to go Arsenal’s way this season. After the recent sacking of their manager Unai Emery the club received another setback after their star player Mesut Ozil was allegedly removed from PES 2020 in China.
The German international recently criticized the alleged human rights abuses and persecution of Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government.
He also focused at the failure of Muslims to adequately respond. As traslated by the Guardian, Ozil wrote,”[In China] Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrasas were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet.”
The tweet sparked a backlash among the Chinese Arsenal fans. To which Arsenal distanced itself from the player saying, “As a football club, Arsenal has always adhered to the principle of not involving itself in politics”.
The statement didn’t seem to calm the supporters as angry comments were posted, jersey’s burned. While a screening for the match between Arsenal and Manchester City was cancelled.
The backlash now has spread to video games as well. As it has been alleged that Ozil was removed has been cut from PES 2020. According to the BBC, Ozil was removed from all three versions of the game. The game publisher Netease said in a statement “hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sport’s spirit of love and peace. We do not understand, accept or forgive this.”
Cutting Ozil from the game showcases the increased willingness by the Chinese gaming industry to support its government.
Previously, Hearthstone grandmaster Chung “blitzchung” Ng Wai and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supported the Hongkong protests. It resulted in “blitzchung” being suspended and the NBA issuing a de facto apology on Morey’s behaviour.
Though cutting a real person from a video game seems critical. It is not all out of character by the gaming industry in China. It is because China actively censors video games and other forms of entertainment media. While maintaining policies in which foreign companies can do very little about it.
Ironically, given his support for human rights, Ozil is a supporter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Who has imposed an increasingly authoritarian regime on the nation since becoming president in 2014. His vocal support of the Turkish President also led him to hatred among the German fans. And eventually his retirement at the international level.
There has been no comments from Konami about the situation but for the time being it seems like Ozil will not be a part of PES 2020.
