Ken Sema: Watford midfielder surprised by reaction to stammer
- Published
Ken Sema: Watford forward says his stammer has not held him back
Ken Sema was surprised.
A quick interview with Watford's media team after he scored two goals in a 3-2 win over West Brom - nothing out of the ordinary there, a routine part of a footballer's post-match duties.
But that brief chat posted on Twitter,, external a one minute 41 second exchange about his return from injury and goal technique, blew up.
His stammer had caught the attention of millions. He just thought he'd had a good game.
"For the video to become so big, it was amazing because there was so much love, so many big names like 'role model', 'inspiration' - that I'd helped so many kids or adults who also have a stammer," midfielder Sema told BBC Breakfast.
The 29-year-old has made more than 100 appearances for the Hornets since joining from Ostersunds FK in 2018, nearly five years in which he has conducted countless interviews. Yet this one was different and has, at the time of writing, racked up more than 11.5m views on Watford's Twitter account alone, and millions more elsewhere.
"I didn't expect it, but I'm happy about it, thankful about every comment and if I can help, I'm here to help," he said.
For Sema, his stammer has "felt normal, a part of me" since he was six years old, the age at which it "just came" along as he grew up in Norrkoping, a city in the east of Sweden.
It posed little extra trouble as he learned English as a second language, and he has refused to let it lay barriers in his path.
"Obviously I had some days where I was a little bit more nervous," said Sema, who has 14 caps for his country. "But it never affected me in a way that [I thought] 'I can't do it'.
"I always had this dream to become a footballer. I didn't see this as an issue.
"I try to say everything I think, it doesn't define me as a person like 'this is Ken with a stammer'.
"I don't see it that way."
I'm not ashamed of my stammer - Brown