Stories have emerged this afternoon claiming that Granit Xhaka was questioned by police under caution after being reported for alleged racist abuse at Heathrow airport.
The Swiss midfielder had a difficult weekend on the pitch when he was sent off during the 2-1 win over Burnley, meaning he’ll serve a mandatory four game ban as it was his second dismissal of the season.
To top it off, it’s being reported that the 24 year old reacted angrily to British Airways staff after an incident involving one of his friends.
The Independent report he called an employee a ‘f*cking white bitch’, at which point the incident was reported, police were called and the Arsenal midfielder was questioned but not arrested.
A Metropolitan Police statement says, “Police were called at 19:29hrs on Monday, 23 January following an allegation that a member of staff had been racially abused at Heathrow Airport, Terminal Five.
“The allegation was made by a third party. Officers attended and spoke with a man in his 20s. He was not arrested. He voluntarily attended a west London police station where he was interviewed under caution. Enquires continue.”
Arsenal have yet to make any statement regarding the matter.
Uh oh
Uh oh, indeed.
Please don’t be true, I love Xhaka.
Would hate if this was true, it will haunt him forever in England..
‘A fucking white bitch’?… To me the whole thing just sounds like a guy who cant speak English very well having a total mare trying to dish out a decent insult during an argument. I mean, have you ever seen Granit on the Arsenal promo videos? he can just about get a few words in English together in a sentence, let alone verbally jousting with someone in a a queue or whatever at an Airport – which are lets face it, probably one of the most stressful enviroments you ever have to deal with as a human being. He probably… Read more »
Is calling a woman a ‘bitch’ alright then? The much more offensive part of the slur I would argue.
Insulting someone for the colour of their skin is always racist, no doubt. However, not sure that white people have felt much racial prejudice in this country.
Regardless, it’s not great for Arsenal or Xhaka. Let’s hope it’s not true.
Well I dont know? I wasn’t there, I cant confirm whether or not she deserved to be called at least a ‘fucking bitch’ .. maybe she did deserve it, who knows.
And whats wrong with insulting someone when they deserve it??
Mate, white middle aged English blokes face plenty of prejudice in this country.
heh
I didn’t realise Anthony Taylor works at Heathrow
Try teaching somewhere like Bradford, as I have, and then tell me that racial abuse of any kind is acceptable. In the majority Asian school where I taught, there was racial abuse on a daily basis towards white members of staff, particularly the women. It is vile, no matter who it’s from or who it’s towards. In modern society, it’s unacceptable. If we are all to be equal then we must all be held equally accountable, and all maintain the same standards. We all get angry, fair enough, but we don’t bring race into it. We as supporters are better… Read more »
The debate over “bitch” may well be irrelevant. Apparently he was speaking German, and insulting a Lufthansa employee who was presumably also German-speaking. I have no idea what words he actually used or if, in the context of contemporary German speech, those words would be considered either racist or sexist.
It is possible that Xhaka’s behavior was even worse than we imagined–or it may be that he is entirely innocent of racial or sexist abuse. I am willing to wait to find out.
The Guardian at east says it was British Airways, not Lufthansa, but agrees the remarks were made in German.
Dude, I don’t even know where to begin with trying to correct your statement. Firstly, it’s not okay to call a woman a bitch. Secondly, excusing someone on the basis that they can’t speak English very well-how come they made the effort to learn to call someone a ‘fucking white bitch’s. Why not put that the effort of learning a language into something more productive. Thirdly, if you find airports that stressful, you seriously need to get out more.
What era do you live in ‘dude’ its not the 1800’s. I’m not saying he beat her in public, he insulted her, so what? I’m not saying its right to insult anyone without due cause. But at the same time just because she is a woman, there’s no difference in calling a man ‘a fucking white bitch’.
Everyone across the world knows how to swear in English – my point was, he probably didnt mean to put x with y together in the heat of the moment due to language barrier.
Also, yes, I would say that foreign airports can be fairly stressful places.
Fourthly, airports are even less stressful for millionaires. In summary it probably deserved a red card more than that tackle on Sunday.
If a woman is being a bitch there’s then there’s nothing more wrong with calling her a bitch than calling a man a cunt or a bastard or whatever.
If people want equality they can’t have special treatment when things aren’t going their way.
The weird thing here is, Xhaka is white, isn’t he!?
Think you’ve missed the point entirely.
Verbal Assault, is a crime regardless of the other parties actions.
If he did use the colour of her skin as part of that insult then it would also be considered racially motivated.
There are plenty of ways to respond in an argument without being racist or abusive.
Is it a crime to call someone a bitch or an arsehole?!
Potentially, depending on the circumstances surrounding such a scenario.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/section/4
What I unserstood (from Media) the investigation is against racially abuse…
I would like to wait to know the details before starting the discussion… 😐
Is it a crime? Probably not and I don’t believe he has been charged with a crime. Is it wrong? I hope we can all agree that this is not the type of behavior that we would like to see from him or anyone else that represents AFC. I am fairly certain that it won’t go over well with AW.
‘Dude’… ‘Nuff said.
Do you speak any other language than English? If you do, you know insults are the first words you remember. They don’t even require effort, grammar on the other hand..
Not excusing or absolving him, just answering YOU in particular.
Women tend to use the word bitch, bitching against each other a lot but Xhaka shouldn’t have use it. It has a different meaning if used by a man.
Just guessing here – but given that he was overheard, it sounds like he was talking to his friend, not to the person he was insulting. So maybe he said “white” because he was identifying which member of staff he was talking about. It just makes no sense for a white person to refer to another person as white in a derogatory way – no-one uses their own race as an insult. Referring to a woman as a “bitch” (assuming it was a woman and that the German word used has the see connotations) is offensive and wrong. But hardly… Read more »
When I say he was it seems he was overheard – this is because it was a third pary that made the complaint.
Some reports say he was talking to a different member of staff
There was a young man named xhaka, who seems a little bit crackers, I don’t mean he’s white, he just likes a fight, he should chill out and play some maracas
Could be that he felt that the airline employee was being racist towards his friends. The article says the confrontation started because of an incident involving his friends. If a white cop unfairly hassled an African American friend of mine, I might say something similiar in anger.
Assuming there’s foundation to this- which shouldn’t be done but just assuming- Wenger will absolutely HATE this. He’s walking a fine line, he was suspiciously absent for a while after his first red card. We’ve seen Wenger effectively sack Wojiciech for something far less publicly damaging to player and club.
Have to question this guy’s mentality here. Is he fit for a top club? Assuming it’s true, benefit of a doubt and hope this shit storm week for him blows over and he gets it together because he’s clearly a fine player.
Hope everything comes good eventually. He is a talented player and I firmly believe his flaws can be ironed out.! Hope we don’t give up on him that fast.
It’s too early to judge him friends. Don’t have to kick him when he is down.!
We’ve had players on the team who have been far more damaging to themselves in their private lives yet were still iconic for the club. You don’t just throw them by the wayside but try to help them develop their flaws. Let’s hope he can do his talking on the pitch.
True, but back in those days private lives were a lot more private than they are today.
Completely off topic but Szczesny made one unbelievable save last weekend against Udinese!And a few slightly less spectacular ones too! He is doing good there!
Do we have the actual source of the Met Police statement? I find it odd that it ends with “Enquires continue”, as opposed to “Enquiries continue”.
This is a serious question by the way; I wasn’t able to find the actual source of the Met Police statement so I find this rather bewildering. (Although you may insert pun re: grammar police here)
Spelling police even
Not good. Should be suspended by club if true. Not just racist but misogynistic as well. How much longer of transfer window to sign Kim kallstrom?
not having you put kallstrom down stepped up and scored a vital pen remember :p
But not racist at all, surely, give that he’s also white. I don’t understand this angle over, say, a sexist one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PJF0YE-x4
agreed, it’s hardly racist…just dumb, but we don’t know the whole context. Maybe she is a b*tch 🙂
Xhaka sounds like he might need to find a nice lady, settle down, and get a nice dog or have a kid. That usually chills men out a bit more.
Spot on blogs. If I call a white man a Caucasian c*nt, then being white myself it means I’ve simply observed the veracity of his ethnicity rather than commit a racist denigration of his character.
N.b. The man in question may also be a Spurs fan.
With all the serious debate going on, your comment left me in stitches!, and its nice to see some light hearted banter for a change. Being a person of colour my self, i can identify with all the comments viewing the incident as serious, however, realistically, simple rule about racism is you can’t be racist to your own race, period. I for example can call another black man “you effing black so and so” and we might end up exchanging blows, but it won’t be because he viewed my comment as being racist….so Xhaka can’t be racist. he is white,… Read more »
Maybe she was an albino
Race isn’t dependent on skin colour. Historically ‘whiteness’ isn’t understood as a colour so much as a ‘lack of race’. So, for example, lots of Irish people were subject to racist discrimination and abuse in the UK during the 50’s and 60’s, despite being white. So often prejudice and hate has more to with ‘racialising’ certain groups of people or communities via language and discourse. (Richard Dawkins often says he can’t be racist because Islam isn’t a ‘race’, despite once saying he often feels like spitting on women wearing burkas in the street). That being said I’d say it’s difficult… Read more »
Yeah, a big slug of siege mentality – bring it on!
If you’re white and you call someone else who’s white, white, is that racist? Serious question.
‘Bitch’ is unacceptable though, for a top level player to use that language towards a woman is just not on.
It says ’employee’ so could be a man being called ‘bitch’.
Maybe he’s one of those white guy who likes to pretend he’s a black man., acting all ghetto and all, including the shiny attires. :p
On more serious note, l was also wondering about being white and calling others white. Just like some african descendent using THE derogatory word to address fellow african descendent in rap song, don’t think that is considered rracis.
I find that comment highly offensive,you’re a flipping idiot.I am a black man and I don’t “act all ghetto” must be a Chelsea fan,no real gunner would say something like that.Fool.
@Fosterkid totally agree with you there fella.
Whoa, I would never guess my comment was considered very racist.
I am really sorry for that, never I mean it to be that way.
For what it worth, I am blaming this to lost in translation, as english is not my first language.
Well, that said, can someone show me the way to the Stamford Bridge?
we all have unconscious biases, not all black men act ghetto like and wear shiny attires, a lot of people unconsciously think of this social stereotype when they think of black people. furthermore, not all black people condone the use of the n-word among the black community.
from the tongue-in-cheek tone of your message, you probably didn’t mean to be offensive, but it was. anyways, we’ll take you back into the fold since you recognized your mistake and apologized sincerely.
Cheers! 🙂
Gudang does have a point.
Society has become so intolerant that it is no longer able to discuss issues openly. Racial prejudices always stem from an element of truth.
What’s wrong with wearing shiny attire and acting ghetto? If that is your identity wear it on your sleeve and don’t let anyone tell you its trash.
If a hypothetical white guy wants to do so because he thinks its cool, then let him do it.
I share the same sentiments about Theresa May. Whatabitch
Does John Moss moonlight for British Airways?
Would have been “FAT white bitch”
Mock all you like but he scrubs up pretty good when you stick a skirt, heels and make up on him.
She must have been really…white!
I doubt the authenticity of this story.Racist remark? Tomorrow we’ll fin out it is false.
Third parties can tend to hear/see what they want to. I’m just saying..
Why was he having three parties in an airport?
I’d like to know why he’s jetting off on holiday? should be doing double training sessions, make him think the next time he wants to red card. Winning titles is about 1% margins and hes no good if he can’t play in the big games
Apparently he was seeing a friend off who had come to visit. I don’t think he was leaving the country or going on holiday.
A white person calling another white person “white xxx!” isn’t racist, geezus people. I don’t even think “B*tch” is necessarily misogynist; it’s the equal of call a guy an asshole. Sometimes women can be real b*tches and guys can be real assholes, that’s just life.
PC semantics aside, clearly not acceptable behavior and troubling when taken into context of his on-pitch behavior as well and not how we want Arsenal to be represented on or off the pitch. Hopefully it’s just a maturity thing but starting to worry its character which rarely changes.
Why would he call her white? I suspect he may have been misunderstood. Not the rest of it, granted.
Okay, I don’t get it. Isn’t Xhaka white/whitish? How is he calling anyone a white anything derogatory? I mean, apart from the fact that calling anyone by skin colour is disgusting, and inhuman. Honestly, even racism can’t be understood in black and white, pun unintended.
Xhaka is an over rated w@nker. We paid way too much for him, gets red cards left right and center, gives away needless penalties, and now this??? Sort it out!! Elneny is way better than this Cunt.
Easy bruv! Both red cards were harsh in my opinion. And why choose to believe a speculative bit of gossip news? Surely you know better than that? Honestly. Don’t be that kind of supporter, be the supporting kind of supporter.
Yeah, two red cards and calling someone ‘a white bitch’. The sick bastard should be locked up.
First red card wasn’t even a red card;
Second red card was really based upon a linesman’s decision;
He was the best player on the pitch up till that point.
Would be nice if fans judged players based upon what they’ve done since joining the club, rather than the last game.
Just saying.
I wonder how many of you would be defending Xhaka if the score was 1-1? or 2-1 to Burnley…..?
I hope this report is untrue. Seems people are jumping on the bandwagon to blacken his name. Be strong, Granit. Things will blow over soon. In the meantime, please stay under the radar.
or whiten his name?
Xhaka is white himself! So how in the name of Keown’s balls could that remark be racist?!
Keowns balls. Marvellous. Enduring image isn’t it?
Maybe he was using it as term of endearment, like black people use the N word to each other?
Only this morning, I saw a colleague this morning, and I greeted her by saying ‘hello, you effing white b’
She gave me a high five and a fist bump. So it’s all good.
Wenger has had easier weeks, tbf
Some of these comments are appalling. There is no defense for his sexist comments, much less the badly-made reclamation arguments being made here.
Apparently one can say fucking and bitch freely, but people will turn mad about the only word that is not swearing.
What white person calls another white person white to be offensive????
isn’t he white?
yeah but it can be argued that “asshole” is not gender specific while “bitch” is. If unsure and a woman is acting foul, you would be much safer(perhaps even less mysogynist) if you called her an a-hole and not “bitch”
A tongue lashing from the boss and a fine from the club should do, we are a classy outfit. Not like spurs or chelsea.
Bitch is feminine for asshole. Asshole is masculine for bitch. Could he have meant it in a mysogenistic way? Maybe. Is it wrong to call a woman a bitch or a cunt? Also maybe. We just don’t know till we know the situation. I don’t know about how Bosnians or Albanians identify themselves as, and looking white doesn’t mean they get a pass on racism against a diffent type of white. So that could indeed be racist also. Or maybe it was just a description he add to complete the insult. A bearded asshole. A bald cunt etc. The difference… Read more »
I lived close to Bosnia for some time, meeting a number of Bosnians and Albanians in those months. Some of the funniest, most foul-mouthed friends I’ve ever made. Not uncommon to call your mom/wife/brother/father/anyone really a ‘bitch’ or ‘pus-y’. England has different laws though and Granit would do well to respect them – provided there is any truth behind these reports. It’s important to remember that in the broader sense Granit is still a young man learning to become a better one. Great player though.
maybe Granit has picked up the mad ting lingo fam!
I appreciate my country (Spain) might have a different attitude to this, but I don’t understand why this is worse than him calling the employee a cunt, dick etc? He is himself white so surely it’s not racist, and bitch is used freely to insult both genders in my language. It’s not something you would say to your mother, granted, but I don’t think it makes him racist or sexists
Don’t understand the idea that one person who is “white’ calling another person “white” can’t be considered racist in particular circumstances, like verbal abuse. Forget the pc semantics for a second because ultimately there’s one simple rule here, if you intend to insult someone and use words that refer to their phenotypic traits in order to do so, you are being racist. You’re implying that “colour” is somehow an insult and appropriate to use in anger, ultimately it doesn’t matter who it is intended for, you’re showing that you believe in the idea of an inferiority/superiority dynamic based on “colour.”… Read more »
Because racism is in its ultimate form some claim of superiority by one group over another group based on racial categorisation. Is that what Xhaka did?
Well no Xhaxa didn’t do that, the Nazis did for instance. Which means almost everyone is innocent of racism by your logic.
Oh hai, Godwin!
Bravo! Have an upvote for explaining this very simple fact.
It’s the same when people use the word ‘gay’ as an insult or to smear someone. It doesn’t matter whether anybody involved is actually homosexual. The assumption that being gay is a bad thing is the problem!
Some idiot recently shouted “queeer!” at me out of his white van. I wasn’t offended personally (being straight, I thought I maybe made some particularly stylish sartorial choices that day), but the fact that he thought he WAS offending me showed him up as a homophobic b*st*rd.
I did once call the entire easyJet checkin staff at Luton airport a shower of despicable cunts. Not my finest moment, but it was the hottest day of the year and I was with my very young son, broke, and with an iPhone that had died on it’s arse. I was annoyed because my plane was right there on the runway for around 49 minutes. I get that it’s wrong to get angry at people doing their job, but it’s hard sometimes when a non gender specific Bitch fucks up your day.
Not quite vardy or terry territory but pretty disgraceful none the less.
He represents Arsenal football club if true time to sell.
24 year old millionaire’s calling anyone anything derogatory is just not cool.
Mental comment. Sorry what now? A couple of red cards which arguably weren’t and an alleged (highlight alleged) non racist comment, and one of our better players should be sold? By your logic, we should have sold Viera, Adams, etc because they didn’t meet AFC’s supposed high standards.
Bring Back Kanu
Bring back Dennis. He’d have never got himself in to trouble at the airport.
Very similar to the Red Card; he hasn’t committed the worst sin in the world, but he’s put himself in an unnecessarily difficult position, in a time and in a place where he didn’t need to, and he has made things difficult for others within the club. The ‘white’ bit is just strange, the ‘bitch’ bit is wrong and the employee has every right to be offended if he called her that. Time for Mertesacker, Cech, or maybe even Wenger, to sit him down and tell him to remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent. This… Read more »
Interesting that a third party made the complaint. He voluntarily attended the police station. Tough tackler but doesn’t come across as a violent one.
Can I just say that as a Muslim growing up in Switzerland, he experienced racism as many immigrants do and Muslims especially, so we need to look at that side of things too. Look up the whole reverse racism argument. Misogyny is never good and he should apologise if he did use the B word and I hope he never uses it again.
as I understand it from the report I read, the epithet was delivered in German. something may have been lost in translation? who knows, all very unclear at this stage
Are you suggesting that the White woman , may have been being prejudice againsytxhaka and his potentially Muslim friend , first , a stereotype would be they are Muslim so terrorists , not my personal opinion, so he then called her a white (as in not Muslim,) bitch?
Who is this third party a ukip voter a spurs fan?? Anyway
The whole thing sounds like a fustrated player trying to settle in london. Fawl mouthed londoners can’t say shit about this!
Serious question from an ignorant Yank Gooner: Is “bitch” considered less acceptable, more acceptable or the same level of vulgarity as the “c” word in the U.K.? The latter is considered several levels worse in the U.S. and unquestionably misogynistic. Yet it seems to be bandied about surprisingly freely by Brits. Do women use it too?
Good question. The “c” word is indeed being bandied about quite freely in the UK (and here). My opinion, for which I will probably get plenty of thumbs down, is that it is still very offensive. Many many women I know find it deeply insulting and as you say, unquestionably misogynistic. It’s often used for comedy effect, precisely because it is so uncouth, but really it’s a nasty word and people should think about that a bit more.
Too bad for him if the claims are true, but again I strongly feel that it is some kind of propaganda to tarnish his character! Concerning his red card, any player can get a red card but I don’t think his was a genuine one! He didn’t deserve it!
I think Mr Wenger and Mr Xhaka deserve a one week all expense paid romantic Pacific cruise for two to clear their heads a bit
He will be fine. This week will blow over. I bet the media can’t wait to stick the boot in over this. Bottom line is, he has been sent off twice. Once was absolutely not a sending off. It was farcical. The second was possibly, but this could be debated whether it should have been a yellow. Personally I think it was a yellow, even though I see the argument against. The 2 penalties, one was and one absolutely wasn’t. As far the police enquiry, he is being questioned. Innocent until proven guilty and I can be bothered to dissect… Read more »
On a side note, I am absolutely 100% fine if the media want to create the dirty player narrative for him. I am sick of filthy English players getting the benefit of the doubt while Johnny foreigner gets chastised. If he wants to leave the boot in on a few cloggers, that’s all well and good. Sure, he may miss a few games, but I suppose that is the price you pay for being a tough player.
Most people won’t care, but there’s still some who live for finding examples of “white racism”, and will now try to keep this story spinning for political purposes. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the right wing rags start weighing in, or for some numpty to raise it in parliament, and I’ve seen plenty of comparisons with John Terry already. What a mess.
Apparently he called the BA employee a ‘fucking white bitch’ in German and the comment was overheard by a German-speaking colleague.
Not nice, but not really a hanging offence.
The bot is a superb player in the making – in my view – and the discipline thing does need sorted, but then both his red cards (given by Moss) were harsh.
Interesting. That made me look up what he apparently said (found it on a Swiss news site) and I can tell you that in German it sounds even worse, if that’s possible. Completely over the top as well. It’s the sort of thing that any of us would certainly report if someone said it to our colleague.
What an idiot.
Can you expand on this?
I’m not going to write what he said, but let’s put it this way: if you google the phrase you only get hits on nasty violent p*rn sites. It’s not something that would be used more harmlessly as a swear word to emphasize your point (like ‘f*cking’ is in english).
As I said, it’s completely OTT and if you heard someone say that to a member of staff in a shop, you would certainly turn around and look upon that person as a horrible piece of work.
*boy*
Calling a white person white isn’t racist… this is terrible sexist abuse but race isn’t a factor here…
Lol I don’t think u just realized what u said but for example,
U see a black woman and call her black b***h.
That is racist
its all about context. from another black woman or man, it wouldn’t be racist, neither will she take it to be one. she might take offence at the insult specifically, but it won’t be on racism, whereas if a white person uses the exact same phrase to the same woman?……..
Also have we checked that the airport security person was not Jon Moss?
At the very best this was pretty stupid, and the liability tag is beginning to hang a bit over this fella
I think Granit is probably a bit confused and frustrated and probably a bit angry, to be honest. He’s watched the Premier League and knows what other players get away with, and he’s found himself with two basically undeserved red cards and a reputation. The anti-Arsenal gutter press and gutter pundits will have a field day with this now. Who knows what he said, or what was said or done to his friend to upset him? You don’t call someone a bitch for no reason. I’m sure the BFG and his teammates will have a chat with him and sort… Read more »
This is the height of irony. The employee of the most racist airways lodging a complaint for being called a f*kin white bitch. I agree he should not have said that but we always mutter stupid insults from time to time. And with the reputation of British airways condescending, unapologetic(least helpful when you are not white) and haughty staff, this made me chuckle.
Bad week for Xhaka but I love him.
It’s a shame we never see the headline “Stupid excuse for a football fan looks for an opportunity to prove he’s a complete and utter C***.”
Probably 90% bullshit. Funny how these things happen a few days after the accused gets a red card and is in the spotlight.
Storm in a teacup for me. Bad behaviour? Yes. Who of us has never done something comparable…not one of us I would wager. It doesn’t make it OK but it requires some perspective. Out of context it’s quite impossible to judge meaningfully
I am not au fait with the ins and outs of Albanian ethnic identity, but perhaps there are albanian gooners out there who can explain whether or not ‘white’ as an insult from Xhaka makes sense.
I’m an American so maybe there is something I’m missing, but how is a white person calling a white person a ‘white bitch’ racial abuse? Can you are even be racist towards a white person? Give me a break.
‘Can you even be racist towards a white person’ Jesus.