Xhaka could be in even more hot water...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38736988

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has been interviewed under caution by police following an allegation he racially abused an airline staff member at Heathrow on Monday night.

Swiss Xhaka, 24, is believed to have been with a friend who had visited him in London and was returning home.

The man is understood to have arrived late for his flight back to Germany and was not allowed to board.

It is at this point that the racial abuse is alleged to have occurred.

Arsenal have declined to comment other than to say it is a private matter that is now in the hands of the police.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told the BBC: "Police were called at 19:29 GMT on Monday, 23 January following an allegation that a member of staff had been racially abused at Heathrow Airport, Terminal Five.

"The allegation was made by a third party. Officers attended and spoke with a man in his 20s. He was not arrested. He voluntarily attended a west London police station where he was interviewed under caution. Enquires continue."

The incident occurred just over 24 hours after Xhaka was sent off during his team's 2-1 victory over Burnley in the Premier League.
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Sigh...I really want to believe this isn't true. He's got enough terrible publicity as it is, this is literally the last thing he needs.

 

The white Balotelli.

 

Stupid as **** if true.

 

He allegedly called a member of staff a ****ing white bitch in German.

 

WTF ?

Was she white ? Not sure how that is racial abuse (other than mentioning her skin colour)

 

I've no idea if she was white or not, but it's probably safe to assume that she was.
Why wouldn't that be racial abuse? Calling someone a black bitch would be, wouldn't it?

 

Well yes, it is by virtue of him mentioning her race. But he is white, so if she was too, I don't really understand how it's racially aggravated. Some black people refer to each other as Nigger. I guess the abusive part of it whilst mentioning her race categorises it as a racially aggravated attack. Bizarre though.

 

I'll quote what HBIC posted on the Spurs board, because... you know:

There's also the language aspect. Maybe it's a translation thing, too? No idea.

 

I just think he's a bit of an idiot to be abusing anybody, firstly.

But secondly, that is just too nuanced to constitute his abuse being racially motivated (I know he brought race into it, so therefore in the eyes of the law it's a racially aggravated incident) But if you start deconstructing ethnic backgrounds to that kind of degree, then it just gets ridiculous. Is an Englishman calling a Scotsman a 'Sweatie' racially aggravated abuse ? Or a Scotsman calling a Welshman a 'Taffy ?' What about and Aussie calling and Englisman a 'Pommie ' ?

Taking this sort of stuff to it's logical conclusion, we all dispersed originally from Africa, so shouldn't we be referring to each other as black homo erectus ?

 

I think that you've given various examples of xenophobia, but I get where you're going with it.
Xhaka might just not think of himself as being white, though.
These things change depending on time and location. The Irish and Italians didn't used to be white in America, for example.

It also might be wrong and he might've said something completely different.
There might be some subtlety in the translation that's lost on us, too.
Does seem rather odd, though.

 

I guess that is that nuanced ethnicity I'm talking about, defined by varying degrees of self appraisal, political and class circumstances. It's odd because Xhaka is Swiss, with a Balkan background, with apparently some Turkish (ottoman) heritage. He's probably about as ethnically diverse as they come.

 

True. I guess we'll have a better idea of what happened in the coming weeks.

 

There are some right anally retented ppl working at Heathrow tbf

 

Just a shot in the dark but maybe she was the only member of staff who was white and the rest where black so he said the white bitch or whatever so his friend knew what one he was talking about

 

Well either way, most Arsenal fans will condemn Xhaka if this is found to be true. Unlike the Scousers who proudly defended Suarez after his "racist" episode.

 

If he said "white" it's possible it was just a distinguishing word rather than a racist thing. When I'm angry I tend to go for the most visible thing to prefix my insult with... Fat ****, short ****, bald **** etc...

If he has actually said something intending to be racist then I'll be really disappointed.

But I shall wait to see what comes out from this before passing judgement.

 

A white guy who does'nt have English as his first language calls someone a 'white bitch'...

I think racism is a stretch.

 

He said it in German.

 

Why all the fuss, he's ****.

 

**** off. He's better than Henderson, thats for certain.