American tennis star Taylor Townsend has been forced to apologise after mocking Chinese food on social media ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen.
The 29-year-old, ranked world No. 1 in doubles, posted videos of dishes such as bullfrogs and turtles, saying she would need to “talk to HR” about the quality of the food.
In another clip she joked: “These people are literally killing frogs... bullfrogs. Aren't those poisonous? Aren't those the ones that be giving you warts and boils and stuff? And turtles? All in all I'd give this like a solid two out of 10 so far, because this is crazy.”
Townsend also filmed herself with teammate Hailey Baptiste mocking a sea cucumber dish at a buffet. The videos quickly triggered anger on both English and Chinese social media.
On Weibo, the hashtag “American tennis player publicly insults Chinese food” began trending. “When you go overseas, respect the local customs and culture. You can choose not to eat it. There is no need to belittle our food,” read one comment.
Another response on X said: “It's really offensive to mock other people's cultural food.”
Confronted with the backlash, Townsend released a statement on Instagram. “I just wanted to come on here and apologise sincerely from the bottom of my heart,” she said. “(It's) one of the things that I love so much about what I do, and I have had nothing but the most amazing experience in time here and the tournament. Everyone has been so kind and so gracious. And the things that I said were not representative of that at all. And I just truly wanted to apologise. There's no excuse, there are no words. And for me, I just, I will be better.”
This is not the first time Townsend has found herself in the middle of controversy. Less than a month ago, she clashed with Latvian rival Jelena Ostapenko, who called her “no class” and “no education.”
Ostapenko later issued her own apology, saying her comments were meant to highlight poor etiquette, not race. Townsend and her US teammates are scheduled to face Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals on Thursday.