By France’s Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Monday, May 20, called for “the toughest sanctions” against Mohamed Camara and his club after the Monaco player taped over a badge in support of the LGBTQ community.
Malian star Camara, 24, covered the logo on the front of his playing jersey with white tape in a French Ligue 1 game on Sunday. He also opted out of a pre-match photograph where the Monaco and Nantes teams stood behind a banner backing the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia.
“Such behavior must be met with the toughest sanctions both for the player but also for his club which allowed him to do it,” Oudéa-Castéra told French radio station RTL. The minister judged Camara’s action “unacceptable.”
Monaco coach Adi Hütter was asked about Camara’s stance after the game in which he scored one of the goals in a 4-0 win on the last day of the Ligue 1 season. “First of all, I would like to say that we, as a club, support the operation organized by the league,” said Hütter in reference to a league-wide initiative. “For his part, it was a personal initiative. There will be an internal discussion with him about this situation. I will not comment further.”
