The LA Galaxy announced on Friday that they had released winger Aleksandar Katai, just six months after the Serbian international had joined the club as a free agent. The reason? Katai’s wife, Tea Katai, posted several “racist and violent” posts on Instagram this week, mocking and threatening the protesters that have been marching throughout the country in response to police brutality.
The LA Galaxy have parted ways with Aleksandar Katai. pic.twitter.com/mcu0fTreC8
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 5, 2020
As detailed by The Guardian, the trouble for Katai started on Tuesday, when Tea Katai shared a couple of Instagram story posts that drew immediate criticism. In one, she posted the video of police SUVs attempting to run over protesters in New York with the caption, in Serbian, “Kill the shits.” In the other, she posted a photo of someone carrying multiple boxes of Nikes with the caption “Black Nikes Matter,” this time in English.
The Galaxy released a statement about the posts the following day, condemning the posts and announcing that they had a meeting on the books with Aleksandar Katai on Thursday:
A statement from the LA Galaxy on Tea Katai. pic.twitter.com/tfGDMUomIo
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) June 4, 2020
For his part, Katai had released his own statement on Wednesday night, similarly condemning the posts, saying that “views are not ones that I share and are not tolerated in my family.” As evidenced by Friday’s “mutual” agreement to part ways, the meeting did not provide the club with a solution that would have allowed Katai to stay on the roster.
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Read the full story at The Guardian
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