Nicolas Anelka’s allegedly racist hand gesture he made after scoring a goal for West Brom has resulted in sponsors Zoopla quitting the club.
The reportedly anti-Semitic gesture, which is said to be an inverted Nazi salute and is referred to as the “quenelle” in France, angered Zoopla’s management, who threatened to terminate their contract with the club if the French striker continued to play. Today they followed through on their threat.
A statement from the company read: “Zoopla has been reviewing its position over the past few weeks in light of the actions of striker, Nicolas Anelka, during the match against West Ham over the Christmas period and has decided to focus its attention on other marketing activities after this season.”
Anelka has denied that the gesture was anti-Semitic and that he was instead paying tribute to a French comedian friend of his who uses the gesture in his act, but the FA are continuing to investigate the incident.
Zoopla’s head of communications Lawrence Hall said: “Through our sponsorship of West Bromwich Albion we are pleased to have supported the local community and charities.
“In recent weeks, however, we have decided to re-evaluate this sponsorship and as a result we will focus our attention on other marketing activities from the end of the season.”
Photo: Getty Images
