Thierry Henry shares a message after his comment about Nigeria during the World Cup stream.
Thierry Henry took to social media to clear up his comments about Nigeria during iShowSpeed’s live stream of Saturday’s World Cup match between the USA and Paraguay.
The former Arsenal and Barcelona star is working with FOX Sports for this summer’s tournament across the US, Canada, and Mexico. So far, he’s been joined by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former USA player Alexi Lalas, who recently made headlines for a funny on-air moment with comedian James Corden.
Henry found himself in a bit of trouble recently after some fans felt he had offended Nigerian football supporters during iShowSpeed’s YouTube live stream.
In the video, you can see Speed showing up to the USA’s first game wearing the US home jersey with Nigerian shorts. Henry was a bit puzzled and joked, “I love Nigeria, but today is US for you.”
Speed, whose real name is Darren Watkins, asked what was wrong with his outfit. Henry explained that mixing kits can be seen as bad luck in sports.
“It’s great. Nigeria is great,” Henry said. “But that’s bringing bad luck. You have to wear the full set. Nothing against Nigeria; I love them, but you should wear US shorts with the US shirt.”
After facing some criticism for his “bad luck” comment, Henry took to Instagram to explain himself.
He said, “I want to clear this up because sometimes jokes don’t come across right. iShowSpeed was wearing Nigerian shorts with a US top, and I joked it’s bad luck to mix the set.”
Henry added, “It could have been France, Italy, or Spain shorts—I’d say the same. I wasn’t saying Nigeria is bad luck, just that mixing kits is.”
“I love Naija and have a lot of respect for Nigeria and its people,” he shared.
He finished by saying, “There are lots of Arsenal fans out there. Nigeria is never bad luck—just mixing the set is.”