Italian club Napoli has issued an official statement regarding the TikTok video that appeared to mock Nigerian international Victor Osimhen but did not apologise.
Osimhen had missed a penalty during their Serie A match against Bologna, resulting in a draw.
Subsequently, two days later, the club posted a video on its TikTok account, which was widely criticised for being insensitive, offensive, and potentially racist.
The video faced considerable backlash from football fans and pundits globally, prompting the player to remove all Napoli-related images from his Instagram profile.
Napoli’s official Tiktok trolls Osimhen after penalty miss
Osimhen’s agent, Roberto Calenda, further threatened to take legal action against the Serie A club.
The 24-year-old was on target in their 4-1 win over Udinese but failed to celebrate the goal. Napoli has finally released an official statement about the situation, as per Football Italia:
“Calcio Napoli, wishing to avoid any exploitation of the issue, points out that we never wanted to offend or mock Victor Osimhen, who is a treasure of this club”.
“As proof of that, during the summer training retreat, the club firmly rebuffed every offer that was received for the striker’s transfer abroad”.
“Social media, in particular TikTok, has always used an expressive form of language with a light heart and creativity, without wanting to, as in the case with Osimhen as protagonist, have any intention of insult or derision”.
“In any case, if Victor perceived any offence towards him, this was not what the club intended”.
Italian TV hostess blasts Osimhen
Earlier, there were reports of Italian TV presenter Marika Fruscio strongly criticizing Osimhen for removing all content related to his club from his Instagram account.
The club had previously posted a video on TikTok, which has since been deleted, containing content that mocked the striker for his missed penalty.
The Italian champions faced substantial backlash for this post, but Fruscio used social media to accuse Osimhen of displaying unprofessionalism by removing all Napoli-related posts from his account.