James Pearson, Tom Hopper & Adam Smith: 5 Fast Facts

Three Premier League soccer stars are at the center of a shocking racist orgy videos. The players are Leicester City’s James Pearson, Tom Hopper and Adam Smith. The clip was first leaked by the Sunday Mirror in the United Kingdom. It was recorded as the Foxes are on a post-season trip to Thailand following the team’s miraculous escape from relegation at the end of the 2014/15 season.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. One of the 3 Players Calls a Thai Woman ‘Slit Eyes’ in the Video

Leicester City Probe Into 'Racist' Video - Leicester City players in racist orgy (FULL VIDEO)

(Screengrab via the Sunday Mirror)

The Sunday Mirror reports that “the swaggering trio then shared the explicit videos with friends back in the UK.” The video appears to start in the middle of the tryst. During one of the blurred out segments, one of the players calls one of the girls “slit eyes.” Later, the girls are called ugly and one is referred to as “an absolute one out of 10.” The clip is likely to cause huge embarrassment to the club, with owners Vichai and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, both being natives of Thailand. The father-and-son team have put millions into the club to bring Leicester back to the Premier League. The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thawatchai Arunyik, had previously Leicester’s efforts in developing links between the city and the owner’s country, saying:

The last two years working with Leicester City have been an amazing adventure, filled with aspiration, incredible people and some wonderful memories.

We are very proud to be working with Leicester City and its supporters, who have embraced the Club’s increasingly strong association with Thailand and given the nation a Premier League club its people can take to their hearts.

Leicester City’s jerseys come equipped with a Thailand tourism slogan on their back. In an official statement from the club, it says that Smith, Hopper and Pearson have all been sent home from the team’s trip. The three have offered their “sincere apologies for their behavior.”

2. James Pearson Is Leicester Coach Nigel Pearson’s Son

Leicester Coach Nigel Pearson grappling with an opposition player, for some reason. (Getty)

One of the culprits in the video, James Pearson, is the son of Leicester coach Nigel Pearson. On his now-deleted Twitter account (you can view a cache version here), he wrote about his pride of playing for Peterborough United on-loan at the end of last season. In a 2014 interview, Nigel Pearson said that his son was slated to join the British Air Force if he hadn’t made it in soccer. The elder Pearson is a patron of soccer’s Kick-it-Out anti-racism campaign.

3. None of the 3 Has Played a Premier League Game for Leicester

(Twitter)

None of the three players have played in the Premier League yet, and they’re not that young either. For example, goalkeeper Adam Smith, according to Soccerbase is 22. The stats site also says that the majority of action that he’s seen are the seven games he played for Nuneaton Borough in England’s nether regions. Striker Tom Hopper has a fared slightly better, he was an unused substitute for two Leicester’s early season games in 2014/15. Though he spent most of the season at Scunthorpe United on loan, according to Soccerbase.

4. This Is the Second Time Leicester Players Have Been Involved in a Sex Scandal While on Tour

Former Leicester stars Keith Gillespie and Paul Dickov. (Getty)

This incident may remind many Leicester City fans of the scandal that engulfed the team in 2004. During a trip to Spain in the middle of the season, three players, Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair, and Paul Dickov were all arrested as part of a rape investigation. The claims were later found to be false with the alleged victim’s stories not adding up. All charges were dropped. After the incident, the BBC reported that the trio were “haunted” by the claims. Leicester City were relegated from the Premier League that season.