US tennis sensation Taylor Townsend has apologized following criticism of remarks she posted on social media regarding Chinese cuisine.
The 29-year-old who is visiting the Chinese city of Shenzhen for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, had shared videos on Instagram in which she was discussing meals that included frogs, turtles and sea cucumber, and said: “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Imma have to talk to HR. [eating] turtle and bullfrog is WILD.”
She was immediately mocked on English as well as Chinese social media.
Ms Townsend, ranked the world’s best doubles player, then issued an apology stating: “There’s no excuse, there’s no words and, for me, I will be better.”
US tennis star apologises for ‘offensive’ Chinese food
“I know that I’m so lucky as a pro athlete to get to travel all over the globe and experience the differences in cultures, which is part of what I love so much about what I do,” she stated in an Instagram video on Wednesday, going on to explain that she had “the most amazing experience” at the tournament.
Townsend had previously posted on Instagram about her response to some of the dishes she witnessed being placed upon a table at a restaurant, such as dishes including braised soft-shell turtle and fish maw, as well as dry pot bullfrog.
They are regarded as Chinese traditional delicacies, especially in southern regions.
“These individuals are actually killing frogs. bullfrogs. Aren’t they poisonous? Aren’t they the ones that be giving you warts and boils and stuff? And turtles?. Overall I’d give this like a solid two out of 10 so far, because this is insane,” Ms Townsend said then.
She posted another video in which she seemed to be at a buffet with teammate Hailey Baptiste, the two mocking a sea cucumber dish.
She was soon called out on social media.
“Won’t defend Taylor here, obviously offensive and shocks a lack of understanding [that] there are other cultures besides USA,” wrote one user on X.
“It’s actually pretty offensive to mock someone’s cultural food,” wrote another.
Chinese media soon picked up on her remarks, and the hashtag “#American tennis player publicly insults Chinese food” began trending.
“When you are overseas, respect the local customs and culture. You can choose not to eat it. There is no need to belittle our food,” wrote one of Weibo’s comments.
The new backlash is less than a month since Ms Townsend had a fiery exchange of words with her Latvian opponent Jelena Ostapenko in which the latter described her as having “no class” and “no education”.
Ms Ostapenko apologised but insisted she was not racist, claiming her remarks were made in the context of tennis etiquette. “But I can see how the language used hurt a lot of people outside of the tennis court,” she said in an Instagram post.
Ms Townsend and her teammates will play Kazakhstan for the quarter finals on Thursday.
