Korean Soccer Player Allegedly Faces Racism, Club Dismisses It As Exaggeration

Korean netizens are enraged over an Italian soccer club’s alleged dismissal of a racist comment made by its players towards Hwang Hee Chan.

Hwan is a forward for Wolverhampton in the English Premier League, as well as a player for the Korean national team. According to reports, the player faced a racist insult from the players of the Italian club Como during a preseason friendly match. The players allegedly called Hwang “Jackie Chan.”

This kind of behavior is often deemed as a microaggression against East Asians, based on the racist stereotype that all East Asians look the same. After receiving backlash over the Jackie Chan comment, Como made a public statement on their social media, calling the reaction of the Wolverhampton players “blown out of proportion.”

Official statement regarding yesterday's incident during our friendly vs. Wolves: pic.twitter.com/BuacRrbOQU

— Como1907 (@Como_1907) July 16, 2024

Our club does not tolerate racism and condemns all forms of it in the strongest possible way.

We spoke to the defender in question to understand hat was said. He has told us the comment he made, to his co defender, was “ignore him, he thinks he’s Jackie Chan”.

Having spoken to our player at length, we are confident this was in reference to the player’s name, and to the constant references of ‘Channy’ made by his own team-mates on the pitch.

As far as our club is concerned our player did not say anything in a derogatory manner.

We are disappointed that the reaction of certain Wolves players has seen the incident blown out of proportion.

— Mirwan Suwarso, Official representative of the ownership group

Hwang’s teammate, Daniel Podence, punched the opposing player, who made the remark immediately and was benched. Wolverhampton’s manager, Gary O’Neil, also stated that the comment was “disappointing” for Hwang, but he refused to leave the game midway despite being given the option. Wolverhampton also issued a statement mentioning that they wanted to file an official complaint to UEFA regarding this incident.

The incident went viral on Korean social media, where netizens reprimanded the Italian club for refusing to take responsibility.

• “Just die.”
• “On brand for Mussolini’s country.”
• “This is how low the club stands. Como’s owner is also Asian, and yet they put out a statement like this.”
• “They should reveal the racist b*stard’s name as well. Why did the reports keep him anonymous?”
• “The club came forward and certified itself as racist. I hope they get sanctioned, uncivilized b*stards.”