The Argentinian government has fired their deputy sports minister for telling the country’s football captain Lionel Messi to apologize on behalf of his teammates for chanting racist and homophobic songs aimed at France after their Copa America victory on Sunday.
Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez live-streamed himself and his teammates singing the discriminatory song on the team bus.
The offensive and rac!st chant mocked the African origins of black players within the French squad, including captain Kylian Mbappé.
The vulgar chant includes lyrics such as: “They play for France but come from Angola” and “Their mother is Nigerian, their father is Cambodian but on their passport: France.”
Amid the backlash, the Deputy Minister of Sports of Argentina, Julio Garro, was forced to speak on the issue.
Garro appeared on the radio station Urbana Play and suggested the Argentine captain apologize for his team’s actions.
He said: ‘I think [Messi] should come out and offer the appropriate apologies, as should the Argentine Football Federation president [Claudio Tapia].’
He added that the incident ‘leaves Argentina looking bad as a country’ and that it would be good to ‘make an example out of this’.
Hours later, he was sacked by Argentina’s right-wing president Javier Milei.
‘The Office of the President states that no government has the right to tell the Argentine national team, world champions and double Copa America champions, or any other citizen, what to comment, what to think and what to do,’ Milei’s official social media accounts stated.
‘That is why Julio Garro ceases to be the under-secretary of sport.’