American Taylor Townsend goes on social media rant about Chinese food, later apologises
Taylor Townsend gives dinner buffet at Shenzhen hotel ‘solid two out of 10’, questions how ‘these people’ can eat turtle and bullfrog
American Taylor Townsend has apologised for a social media rant criticising the Chinese food at a hotel in Shenzhen, where she is competing in the Billie Jean King Cup.
The tennis player, who was accused of having “no class” and “no education” by Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko during a row at this month’s US Open, posted a series of videos on Instagram on Tuesday saying she would “talk to HR” about the quality of the food and could not believe “these people” ate bullfrogs, which she thought were poisonous.
Townsend rated the dishes, which she said also included gizzards, lung and chicken skin, “a solid two out of 10”.
Her tirade was picked up on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and one hashtag related to her apology was viewed more than 20 million times.
“Wild boars cannot eat fine grain,” one user, quoting a Chinese idiom, said.
On Wednesday, the 29-year-old, the world No 1 in women’s doubles, again took to Instagram to “apologise sincerely from the bottom of my heart” for her comments.