English soccer was plunged into yet another anti-Semitism scandal this weekend, following a goal-scoring celebration by Nicolas Anelka, the highly-regarded French striker who currently plays for West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League. After beating the goalkeeper for the second time during a six goal thriller against West Ham United on Saturday, Anelka delivered an anti-Semitic salute, known as the Quenelle, originated by his close friend, the French-Cameroonian comedian and provocateur Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who calls himself an “anti-Zionist” while engaging in what looks suspiciously like anti-Semitism.
As with the recent Tottenham Hotspur “Yids” controversy which preceded it, there are plenty of voices arguing that L’Affaire Anelka is really a big misunderstanding, and that Jew-baiting was the furthest thing from Anelka’s mind. Keith Downing, Albion’s coach, defended his player by irritably declaring that “It (the Quenelle) has got nothing to do with what is being said…It is absolute rubbish.” For his part, Anelka tweeted, “This gesture was just a special dedication to my comedian friend Dieudonné,” later adding a photo showing President Obama with Jay-Z and Beyonce supposedly doing the same thing (what’s shown in that image is, in fact, a harmless tribute to Jay-Z’s song, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.”)
From Tablet Magazine
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