American tennis player Taylor Townsend has apologised for dismissive comments she made about Chinese food after online backlash.
The doubles world No 1 posted videos on social media criticising food served at a buffet ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, which are held in Shenzhen, China this month.
“This is the craziest thing I've ever seen ... and people eating this,” she said in the videos on her Instagram account, which featured dishes including soft-shelled turtle, bullfrog and sea cucumber.
“Imma have to talk to HR.. because what the hell.. turtle and bullfrog is WILD,” another caption read.
“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,” she said.
The comments resulted in backlash on both English-language and Chinese social media, with the hashtag “American tennis player publicly insults Chinese food” trending on the latter.
The 29-year-old apologised on Wednesday for the comments, saying in a video on Instagram: “I just wanted to come on here and apologise sincerely from the bottom of my heart.
“I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things I love so much about what I do.
“I have had nothing but the most amazing experience and time here and in the tournament. Everyone has been so kind and so gracious and the things that I said are not representative of that at all.
“I will be better. I truly apologise.”
Townsend, who recently lost the US Open doubles final with partner Katerina Siniakova, is part of the US team in Shenzhen. They will play Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals.
