A number of Nike store outlets were temporarily closed in South Africa on Wednesday following a public outcry over a racist comment made by a person who reportedly had a connection to the sportswear company.
According to Reuters, citing a statement issued by Nike, the swoosh company will retain its "long-standing commitment to diversity, inclusion, and respect."
Although it is yet to release a comment about the store closures in Johannesburg, Nike clarified that the man seen ranting in a video is not actually an employee.
The video in question, which was pointed out over at Africa News, was taken at a certain beach resort. It features a man of seemingly Caucasian descent having a South African accent saying, "and not one kaffir in sight. *expletive* heaven on earth!"
Kaffir is an insulting term which refers to a black African person. The ethnic slur was first heard during the pre-colonial period in Africa and was later used as an exonym for the Bantu people.
Using such word is considered very offensive, the same as when using the word "nigger" or the "N-word" referring to African Americans in the United States.
The offensive video has expectedly drawn flak from people on several social media sites where most of them pointed out on the man's inappropriate statements.
Others, however, were taken aback by Nike's decision to immediately issue closures to some of its store outlets in the country. According to them, the sportswear hub should only have "taken action against the person."
Meanwhile, members of the far-left political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa announced their intent to file a criminal complaint against the person in the controversial racist video. EFF is the party most known for its hard-left idealism and nationalist views.
As indicated at Bloomberg, the person in question is the spouse of a Nike employee. It wasn't revealed which specific outlet the said member of the staff worked for.
Meanwhile, the offending individual was reportedly fired from his own workplace, a food production company which happened to be owned by his family.
The media outlet further pointed out that there were two Nike shops located in a mall in Johannesburg's Sandton financial district closing its doors on Tuesday. The aforementioned establishments are still closed for business as of the time of this writing.
Nike operates several store outlets in 11 locations across South Africa - a country which still holds a painful regard for its apartheid and colonial past.
