West Ham forward Michail Antonio has questioned calls for Kurt Zouma to be sacked when players have been allowed to continue their careers after being found guilty of racism.
Zouma was fined two weeks’ wages by the club - equivalent to around £250,000 - after a video of him kicking and slapping his pet cat was obtained by The Sun newspaper.
The French international is the subject of an investigation by the RSPCA, who have taken his cats into care, while he has been dropped by boot sponsor Adidas.
David Moyes opted to start the centre-back in Tuesday night’s win over Watford but West Ham have faced growing backlash from both fans and sponsors, some of whom have cut ties with the club.
Stopping to speak to Sky News before he entered the West Ham training ground this morning, Antonio said: “I have a question for you. Do you think what he is done is worse than racism?
“I am not condoning a thing that he has done. I do not agree with what he has done at all. But there are people who have been convicted, caught for racism and have played football afterwards.
“They got punished, given an eight-game ban or something like that, but people are now calling for people to be sacked and to lose their livelihood.
“I have just got to ask this question to everyone out there: is what he has done worse than what people have done that have been convicted for racism?”
