Badji, who started and played 72 minutes in FC Cincinnati's 3-0 playoff victory over Red Bull New York, shared on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that he was racially abused after the match. In a screenshot from his Instagram page, Badji showed that a user had commented monkey and banana emojis on multiple posts of his, along with the word 'M0n0' which translates to monkey in English.
The 31-year-old Senegalese striker said "Being racially abused is a deeply painful reminder of the persistent racism that lingers in our society. Racism has no place in our world. No one should endure such injustice based on their ethnicity or race. I pray for more peace, love & positivity ❤️."
His club made a public statement on their X page as well, saying: "We are with you, Dom. 🧡💙 Racism has no place in our sport or in our society. No one should have to suffer this intolerance, and we are working with MLS to protect our players from racist abuse."
Badji has been playing in MLS since 2014, with this being his fifth club within the league. He joined Cincy's ranks in 2022.