Team GB’s Elise Christie shares life change in response to West Ham Kurt Zouma controversy
Team GB speed skater Elise Christie says she became a vegetarian in response to West Ham defender Kurt Zouma kicking his cat, she told The Times.
The French centre-back is facing prosecution along with his brother after video on social media of the former Chelsea man kicking and slapping his pet cat at home emerged.
The Hammers fined him two weeks wages after the incident, which they released a statement this week saying had been donated to nine animal welfare charities, but manager David Moyes kept him in the starting line-up for the subsequent match against Watford.
That decision made the entire episode an even bigger spectacle, as upset over the animal abuse turned into outrage at the apparent lack of punishment and brought it to the attention of many others, such as Christie.
In a wide ranging interview, the recently un-retired Winter Olympian said: “I became a vegetarian after what happened with Kurt Zouma’s cat. After reading what happened, I want to know if any meat I am eating was treated right before it was killed.”
Bad publicity
Despite the fact that the Irons are putting together a pretty special season it is likely that most outside the world of football will have only heard one thing about the team.
Zouma has rightly been punished for the treatment of his cats, and we have to hope has forever learnt his lesson.
The outrage reached outside of sports news and saw the likes of former England keeper Chris Kirkland on BBC Breakfast making the situation worse by suggesting it was worse than instances of racism.
Hammers star Michail Antonio asked that question when speaking to Sky Sports, as the reaction got out of hand.
The entire situation was extremely unedifying, and threw up plenty of other issues.
If it has led to some such as Christie to be more contentious about what they eat then that is a slight silver lining.
The money that has gone to charity, which Henry Winter reported on Twitter is also helping Ukraine in a small way, is another, but most will wish it never happened.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes has admitted what fans feared on keeping Declan Rice.
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