Nicolas Jackson Stands by Enzo Fernandez Amid Racism Controversy

Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson has thrown his backing behind embattled team-mate Enzo Fernandez, after the midfielder filmed himself singing a ‘racist’ chant during Argentina’s Copa America celebrations. 

The Argentina star and a number of his team-mates appeared to sing a controversial song seemingly about how French players are ‘from Angola’ or have a ‘Nigerian’ mother and a ‘Cameroonian’ father.

The Chelsea player was then accused of ‘uninhibited racism’ by his French international team-mate Wesley Fofana, with a number of other Blues players then unfollowing Fernandez on social media.

But Jackson opted not to follow suit and instead took to Instagram to defend his under-fire colleague. Though, his first post raised more than a few eyebrows. 

The clip shared by the Senegal international showed Fernandez interacting with a young black child at the end of one of the Blues’ pre-season matches last summer. Jackson accompanied the video with the caption: ‘Enzo Fernandez and this young fan,’ followed by two pleading face emojis. 

The post also included a depiction of black and white fists bumping, with a heart just above. The short video had been widely circulated on social media in the hours following Fernandez’s initial post, seemingly in an attempt to defend his actions. 

Jackson also posted an image of himself and Fernandez sitting next to each other during a training session at the club’s Cobham’s base. The Argentine could be seen smiling, while Jackson held a stern demeanor in the picture.

The manner of Jackson’s defence of team-mate, indeed, the defence itself, comes as a surprise given the reaction from the other members of the Chelsea squad. 

Mail Sport previously reported that sources close to the players have revealed that Chelsea’s French contingent are furious with Fernandez.

Chelsea have a large number of French players among their squad including Fofana, Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu, Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile.

Fofana, Disasi and Gusto have all unfollowed Fernandez on Instagram.

Fernandez himself belatedly posted an apology on Tuesday night, which read: ‘I want to apologise for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations.

‘The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words. I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologise for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations.

‘That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry.’

The song first emerged around the 2022 World Cup, when Argentina beat France in the final on penalties in Qatar.

The game was already mired in bad-blood with Kylian Mbappe targeted by heavy taunting by Emiliano Martinez – despite the French striker scoring a hat-trick and a penalty in the shootout.

Chelsea published a statement in response to the video posted by their midfielder on Wednesday morning, in which they denounced ‘all forms’ of discriminatory behaviour.

‘Chelsea Football Club finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour completely unacceptable. We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome,’ began the club’s statement.

‘We acknowledge and appreciate our player’s public apology and will use this as an opportunity to educate.

‘The Club has instigated an internal disciplinary procedure.’