Chelsea footballer Kenedy was sent home from the club's preseason tour "after his offensive social media posts sparked an outrage in China," according to Matt Barlow of the London DAILY MAIL. Chinese media "reacted furiously to his online insults and the ham-fisted attempts at an apology by the 21-year-old Brazilian." The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party in China, "took up the matter," accusing Chelsea of "humiliating" the nation and threatening to treat the club as "persona non grata." Kenedy's posts included one that said, "F*** China" in Portuguese and another that featured a security guard sleeping against a wall and the words "wake up China you idiot." In an effort to "ease the rapidly escalating diplomatic row," the club issued a "solemn and sincere" apology on its official website in English and Chinese (DAILY MAIL, 7/25). ESPN.com's Paul Murphy reported Kenedy also made an apology of his own, posted on the club's official website on Monday, which said, "I would like to apologise to the people of China for the offence I have caused. It was never my intention to insult or offend anyone at all and I now realise my comments were totally inappropriate." During Monday's news conference, Manager Antonio Conte reiterated the player's contrition when he said, "Kenedy understood that he made a mistake and he is sorry about this" (ESPN.com, 7/25). In London, John Percy reported the posts were made on Friday, and though later deleted, Kenedy was "booed by the home support" during Chelsea's 3-0 win over Arsenal at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing the following day. The People's Daily editorial read, "China does not welcome a player like this; nor does China welcome a team like this. It is regrettable that he has said such nonsense. He has created an incident that has humiliated China, an incident that so many fans simply cannot tolerate" (TELEGRAPH, 7/25).
