Nicolas Pepe apologises to Moroccan fans after viral video mocking Atlas Lions’ AFCON record

Villarreal and Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pépé has issued a public apology to Moroccan fans after a video circulated online showing him seemingly mocking Morocco’s record of achieving Africa Cup of Nations titles.

The clip, recorded days before the start of the upcoming AFCON tournament, captured Pépé joking about Morocco’s trophy record. In the video, he said:
“Be careful of Morocco? How many stars do they have? They don’t have any… maybe they won one in 1818 — we weren’t even born then.”

Pépé’s apology

Following the backlash, Pépé took to Instagram to clarify the context. He wrote:

“Hello everyone, I hope you are well. I want to address the controversy surrounding the video with Just Riyad and the comments I made about Morocco. We were joking together and teasing each other throughout the day.”

Pépé apologised:

“I apologise if my words were misunderstood or if Moroccan fans took them badly. In the video — at minute 1:26 — I actually said how difficult it is to face them in this AFCON edition.”

He concluded his statement with a message of unity:

“We are all together — we are children of the African continent. Strength to everyone.”

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