American tennis star Taylor Townsend is apologizing after she posted a series of Instagram stories where she shared her shock and scathing reaction to some of the cuisine she was served at dinner ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup this week in Shenzhen, China.
Townsend, 29, was at a restaurant with USA teammate Hailey Baptiste on Tuesday night when she started the commentary on Instagram. Her posts were then criticized online as disrespectful to China’s culture and culinary traditions.
“I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” Townsend said in a video apologizing for her comments. “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 that I love so much about what I do. I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here at the tournament, and everyone has been so kind and so gracious. The things that I said were not representative of that at all, and I just truly wanted to apologize.
“There is no excuse, there are no words… I will be better. I’m really, really thankful to my country and to be able to represent them and be better. That’s all I can do. I just truly apologize.”
In her initial comments, Townsend recorded food that had been laid out buffet-style, which included dried sea cucumber, bullfrog and braised soft-shelled turtle with fish maw.
The respective food items are considered delicacies in China.
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen… and people eating this,” she captioned one video.
“I’m honestly just so shocked at what I saw in the dinner buffet,” Townsend said in a later Instagram story. “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?
“And the fact that it’s all stewed up with chillies, peppers, and onions. Like oh, you really made this a dish. All in all, I’d give this like a solid 2 out of 10 so far, because this is crazy.”
Users on social media started calling Townsend out for the comments, with some labeling them disrespectful or ignorant.
Townsend became one of the big stories during the U.S. Open after she got into a heated encounter with Jelena Ostapenko in which the Latvian said that the American had “no class” and “no education,” leading to accusations of racism toward Ostapenko.
Townsend will be competing alongside Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, McCartney Kessler and Baptiste with Team USA in China.
