Michail Antonio questions reaction to Kurt Zouma cat attack

Michail Antonio has questioned those calling for his West Ham teammate Kurt Zouma to be sacked after a video emerged of him attacking his cat.

The troubling footage was reported on Monday, with manager David Moyes receiving widespread criticism for fielding the defender in his side's game against Watford the very next day.

Since then though, Zouma has been sanctioned by the club with the Hammers fining him two weeks' wages. The defender also lost adidas as his boot supplier, while one of West Ham's sponsors withdrew their support of the club.

Hammers top scorer Antonio was asked about his take on events on Thursday and he gave an interesting answer.

"Do you think what he's done is worse than racism?" he asked a Sky Sports reporter.

"I am not condoning a thing he's done, at all. But there's people that have been convicted, been caught for racism, and have played football afterwards.

"They haven't got punished. But people are now calling for people to be sacked, to lose their livelihood. I've just got to ask this question for the people out there: is what he's done worse than what the people have done who were convicted for racism?"

Antonio may have been responding to comments from former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland on BBC Breakfast, where he implied that Zouma's actions may have been worse than racism.