Zimbabwe’s First Ever NFL Player Publicly Apologizes To Zimbabweans After Making Ignorant Comments On American Television
Stansly Maponga became the first ever Zimbabwean born and raised to play in the American National Football League (NFL). Whilst everyone back home was buzzing about him making us all proud, Maponga made some eyebrow raising remarks on Fox News and he is apologizing for it.
Talking about growing up Zimbabwean, Maponga mentioned that Zimbabwean kids grow up fast because they have to go look for food. He said we hunt deer, squirrel and rabbits, if you know anything about Zimbabwe’s wildlife you’d know we don’t have deer and that didn’t sit well with many Zimbabweans.
Maponga took to Instagram to correct his mistake and explain exactly what he meant. Read his apology below.
“Thank you so much for the support on and off the field, I’ve been truly blessed. I am a PROUD Zimbabwean and it is an honor to holster the name of my country on my back every time I step on the field. With that said, I would like to extend an apology to my Zimbabwean family for some of the comments I made on Fox News. Truthfully, I wasn’t prepared for the interview for I was just getting done with practice, nonetheless that’s not an excuse. I wasn’t acclimated to answering those questions. Let me clear a few things up, no we do not hunt to survive in Zimbabwe. We hunted common animals leisurely when younger. As kids, we were raised actively and we didn’t stay couched up in the house all day playing video games. No, we enjoyed the outdoors and in Zimbabwean culture we’re taught the essence of loving and protecting nature. In actuality we haunted “Mhembwe” which is slightly comparable to deer over here in the U.S. . That’s why I said deer, I didn’t know the proper term to use I just wanted to paint a picture in people’s heads. We also enjoyed catching small creatures resembling squirrels (mbeva), but not necessarily squirrels. I’m repentant for those remarks. I grew up not having much, me and my brothers had to share the same pair of shoes for many years so having the opportunity to come to the U.S. and owning my own pair of shoes was a privilege but certainly not a culture shock like I stated. Deeply apologize for saying that. My bad. Now I’m not saying everybody in Zimbabwe grows up the way I did, no. Everybody has a different upbringing, this was just mine. In no way shape or form did I want to degrade or disrespect my people, I just put words out of context during the interview. I love my heritage and my great country of Zimbabwe. I thank God for giving me this platform to be in a position to inspire a whole nation. I love playing football, I’ll never disown my country, I’m also proud to an American and the opportunities they have bestowed me with. I want to be a role model, I want kids in Zimbabwe to grow up knowing that with God and hard work nothing is impossible. Faith without works is dead, dream big, stay on your path, keep pushing. Be blessed.”
We totally understand where he was coming from and will continue to support him throughout his career. Everyone makes mistakes but few correct themselves. Good for you Maponga.
