News reports stating that Manchester United player Paul Pogba had resigned from the French national team over comments made by President Emmanuel Macron has gone viral on social media platforms.
However, the 27-year-old footballer dismissed the reports and clarified to his fans that he had not made any such decisions.
CLAIM
Social media users shared the piece of information with captions that read, “French football star Paul Pogba quits France national team as a protest against President Macron’s anti-Islam comments.”
Earlier, a report in a British daily, The Sun, said that Pogba had quit the team after the comments by the French leader.
The report was picked up by other news organisations.
Other Facebook and Twitter users also put out the piece of information on their personal social media handles.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The footballer himself took to his social media handles to call out the publication.
“So The Sun did it again... absolutely 100% unfounded news about me are going around, stating things I have never said or thought. I am appalled, angry, shocked and frustrated some “media” sources use me to make total fake headlines in the sensible subject of French current events and adding my religion and the French National Team to the pot,” he wrote.
“I am against any and all forms of terror and violence. My religion is one of peace and love and must be respected,” Pogba added.
Pogba, who made his France debut back in 2013, was part of the World Cup-winning French team.
WHAT DID MACRON SAY?
President Macron recently criticised the Islamic extremist who killed a teacher in Paris and said that France will not "give up cartoons" depicting Prophet Mohammed. This statement saw a massive public outcry. Earlier in the month, Macron had unveiled plans to tackle what he called “Islamist separatism” and defend France’s secular values.
“Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today, we are not just seeing this in our country,” he said.
Macron's comments triggered protests in Muslim-majority countries over the weekend. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a boycott of French goods.
“As it has been said in France, ‘don’t buy Turkish-labelled goods’, I call on my people here. Never give credit to French-labelled goods, don’t buy them,” said Erdogan, according to an NDTV report.
Pakistan's Prime Minster Imran Khan also questioned Macron’s stance in a series of tweets.
Hashtags like #BoycottFrenchProducts, #BoycottFrance products, #boycottfrance, #boycott_French_products, #ProphetMuhammad have been trending on Twitter.
Evidently, the news about Pogba retiring from the French national football team over President Macron’s comments was false.
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