Soccer Player Released Over Wife's 'Racist' Social Media Posts
The Los Angeles Galaxy released a midfielder from the team after the player’s wife shared what the organization called “racist and violent” posts on her personal social media.
The Major League Soccer team made the announcement on its Twitter account last week that it had “mutually agreed to part ways with midfielder Aleksander Katai.”
The LA Galaxy have parted ways with Aleksandar Katai. pic.twitter.com/mcu0fTreC8
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 5, 2020
The Serbian soccer player’s wife, Tea Katai, had posted photos from protests that erupted after George Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest.
One picture showed an New York City Police Department SUV, which would later drive into a crowd of protesters and knock people to the ground, facing the protesters, TheBlaze reported.
Tea Katai captioned the photo “Ma pobij govna bre!” — which translates to “Kill the s—s!”
A separate post, consisting of a picture of a shoe store being looted, was captioned: “Black Nikes Matter.”
She has since made her Instagram account private.
The LA Galaxy condemned her posts as “racist and violent” in a statement on Twitter.
“The LA Galaxy stands firmly against racism of any kind, including that which suggests violence or seeks to demean the efforts of those in pursuit of racial equality,” the statement read.
A statement from the LA Galaxy on Tea Katai. pic.twitter.com/tfGDMUomIo
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 4, 2020
“The LA Galaxy stands with communities of color, and especially the Black community, in the protests and fight against systemic racism, social inequality, bigotry and violence.”
On his own Instagram account, Aleksander Katai also apologized for his wife’s posts and called them “unacceptable.”
“I am sorry for the pain these posts have caused the LA Galaxy family and all allies in the fight against racism,” he wrote.
The LA Galaxy ultimately reached a decision to buy out the remainder of Katai’s contract, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“We believe strongly that we’re a club that represents our staff, represents our players, represents our fans and our community,” team president Chris Klein told the Times.
“The decision, in that respect, was not a difficult one. We have to hold to those values. This is not a soccer decision.”
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