Mesut Özil of UK football club Arsenal has been removed from the Chinese version of Konami's PES 2020. Sorry, eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020.
That's according to The BBC, which reports that local publisher NetEase has pulled the athlete following statements made by Özil on social media about the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China.
Özil posted on Instagram decrying the use of concentration camps - sorry - reeducation camps in Xinjiang province, in which millions of Uighur Muslims are being held. This has led to anger against the footballer from Chinese fans.
"The German player Özil posted an extreme statement about China on social media," NetEase said in a statement.
"The speech hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sports spirit of love and peace. We do not understand, accept or forgive this."
Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry has said that Özil has been "deceived by fake news" on the topic of Uighur Muslims. China has long denied that this ethnic group has been treated as Özil described, saying that they are being re-educated.
