Following the French team’s dramatic loss in Sunday’s World Cup final to Argentina, captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris faced a tirade of anti-white abuse online.
Defending champions France faced off against Argentina on Sunday night, just north of the Qatari capital of Doha. With Argentina 2-0 up at half time, two equalising goals within 90 seconds from star player Kylian Mbappé kept France in the game, with Mbappé getting a hat-trick in extra time to equalise after Argentina pulled ahead again.
With the game coming down to penalties, France eventually lost 4-2, with 2 of their players missing their kicks, and captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris helpless against the Argentinian team, unable to prevent them taking the World Cup trophy for the first time since 1986.
Following the end of the match, many French speaking Twitter users decided to launch a tirade of racist abuse against Lloris, blaming him for the loss, with some attacking him as a “sale blanc,” a “dirty white,” since he was the only white player left on the French team at the end of the game.
“Nobody’s talking about it, but there is a huge outburst of racist hatred against Hugo Lloris,” noted Damien Rieu, a former candidate for the conservative “Reconquête” party, led by journalist Eric Zemmour. Another Twitter user highlighted that “the most virulent racism is not where you think it is.”
Personne n’en parlera mais il y a un déchaînement de haine raciste contre #hugolloris. #ArgFRa pic.twitter.com/J5jzfBNoTI
— Damien Rieu (@DamienRieu) December 18, 2022
"La droite n'a pas le droit de féliciter l'équipe de France car les joueurs ne sont pas blancs"
"Lloris est dans l'équipe car il est blanc" "Sale blanc"
Etc…
Le racisme le plus virulent n'est pas là où l'on croit.#FIFAWorldCup #FRAARG #ARGFRA pic.twitter.com/TD3xeqqt7K— YReconquête Ⓩ (@YReconquete) December 19, 2022
“The only white on the team is Lloris and that’s the reason why France lost,” one Twitter user said, with another exclaiming “Lloris has let in 3 goals and stopped 0 penalties, dirty white!”
“The only white man who didn’t do the job. F**k you, Lloris,” another said. Some users even went so far as to claim that Lloris himself was a racist, with no evidence to suggest so.
White French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was subject to racism post match, for example.
Lloris c'est le seul blanc qui jouait la fin de match et il nous a fait perdre, f**k u Lloris
Lloris is the only white who played to the end of the match and he made us lose, f**k u Lloris pic.twitter.com/efS9XDBowo
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) December 19, 2022
Despite the torrent of anti-white abuse that the goalkeeper faced, some French Twitter users remained adamant that you can’t be racist to white people. “There are people who think that anti-white racism exists because Hugo Lloris was called ‘a dirty white’?” once asked incredulously, telling another user to “keep their racism to themselves” when asked if “dirty black” was racist.
Y'A DES GENS QUI PENSENT QUE LE RACISME ANTI BLANC EXISTE PCQ ÇA CRIE SALE BLANC À HUGO LLORIS ????? pic.twitter.com/SLKnvD2kvd
— 🤺sik ☃️ winterfall (@sikimili) December 18, 2022
Garde ton racisme pour toi dans ton cul inexistant de blanc 🙏🙏
— 🤺sik ☃️ winterfall (@sikimili) December 18, 2022
Following the defeat in the final, riots broke out in cities across France, including the capital Paris, and other regional centres such as Lyon and Grenoble, with around 227 people being arrested as as a result. The police had deployed 14,000 officers nationwide in anticipation for the violence that arose.
🇫🇷 Suite au match France-Argentine, des violences ont explosé dans plusieurs villes (Paris, Lyon, Grenoble…). Au total, 227 personnes ont été interpellées. (CNEWS) #FRAARG pic.twitter.com/gkQDcr2vYy
— OMERTA (@Omerta_officiel) December 19, 2022
This news and commentary by Jack Hadfield originally appeared on Valiant News.
