After their consecutive draws in the Premier League, a video that was shared by the team's social media team has now gone viral. The video of the players signing a jersey being held by a young Gunners fan, but with blank expressions on their faces and not appreciating the young girl's effort has been condemned by many.
The incident took place before the match against West Ham United at the London Stadium when the club tweeted a video of the stars signing an official jersey for a female mascot. The official Twitter channel wrote, "Making memories with our mascot."
In the video, none of the players are seen saying 'hello' — or even looking — at the mascot despite her looking up at them with a smile each time. Most of the players have earphones and don't even acknowledge her presence.
This video has given rise to a lot of negative reactions on social media and has spread on Twitter.
While a majority of the negative comments on social media were meted out by opponent fans, one English presenter Laura Woods approached the club to comment on the matter and they said, “To add a little bit of context, I actually messaged the club because I think they thought ‘they all stopped and signed the shirt this is great.’
“Maybe that in itself is the problem that there’s now a disconnect between what you’re meant to do for those kinds of mascots.
“The club did say it’s part of a matchday experience so that’s not the only interaction she had with the players. She was a mascot, she went out on the pitch with them, and she would have been on the pitch with them during warm-ups.
“I think there’s a lot of things we don’t see, but that’s not excusing that video.”
Arsenal are currently at the top of the Premier League (PL) table but they have been poor in their last two matches. They have given away 2-0 leads against Liverpool and West Ham United to secure 2-2 draws in their last two games. This is the beginning of a tough run of matches for the Gunners, who now have to face Manchester City in a potential title decider.
