Tennis star Taylor Townsend found herself serving up an apology this week after some off-hand comments about food in China landed poorly with fans.
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The top-ranked doubles star, who's in Shenzhen for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, drew backlash when she posted videos on Instagram of local dishes — including bullfrogs and turtles — and joked that she might need to "talk to HR" about the buffet.
Within hours, social media lit up with criticism, accusing the American of being disrespectful to the host country.
By Tuesday, Townsend addressed the controversy directly with a video on her Instagram Stories.
"I just wanted to come on here and apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart," the 29-year-old said. "I understand that I am so privileged as a professional athlete to be able to travel all around the world and experience cultural differences, which is one of the things I love so much about what I do. The tournament and everyone has been so kind and so gracious, and things that I said were not representative of that at all."
She added: "There's no excuse, there's no words, and for me, I will be better. I'm really, really thankful to my country to be able to represent them and to be better, and that's all that I can do. So, I just truly apologize."
Townsend has been one of the biggest stories in doubles tennis over the last two years, winning the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon in 2024.
But this week, her social media misstep drew comparisons to John Cena's 2021 controversy, when the wrestler-actor apologized in Mandarin on Weibo after referring to Taiwan as a country.
Townsend and Team USA face Kazakhstan in the BJK Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
