US tennis player Townsend apologises for culturally insensitive comments about Chinese food at Billie Jean King Cup in Shenzhen

SHENZHEN, Sept 17 — American Taylor Townsend apologised today for comments she made about food served at a buffet ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Shenzhen, China.

“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen… and people eating this,” she said in videos posted on social media.

“As I go back and I look… these people are literally killing frogs… bullfrogs. Aren’t those poisonous? Aren’t those the ones that give you warts and boils and stuff?”

The 29-year-old later apologised following a backlash.

“I just wanted to come on here and apologise sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” she wrote on social media.

“I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things I love so much about what I do.

“I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here and in the tournament. Everyone has been so kind and so gracious and the things that I said are not representative of that at all.”

Townsend, who was involved in a heated confrontation with Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open last month, is part of the US team which will take on Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals of the team tournament in Shenzhen. — Reuters