Mario Balotelli's knack of attracting the wrong type of headlines
shows no sign of abating with the Italian international facing a
possible English Football Association charge for racially stereotyping
Jewish and black people in a social media post.
The FA is looking into
Balotelli's reposting of a Nintendo character Super Mario image that
underneath had the words "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a
jew."
Balotelli quickly deleted
the Instagram image, before tweeting: "My Mom is jewish so all of u
shut up please," a reference to his foster mother, Silvia.
He apologized Tuesday on Twitter explaining the post "was meant to be anti-racist with humor."
He added: "I now
understand that out of context may have the opposite effect. Not all
Mexicans have mustaches, not all black people jump high and not all
Jewish people love money.
"I used a cartoon done by
someone else because it has Super Mario and I thought it was funny and
not offensive. Again, I'm sorry."
Liverpool said they plan
to speak to Balotelli, who has missed the club's last three games due to
a groin injury he picked up on international duty in November.
"We are aware of the posting which has since been promptly deleted by the player," said Liverpool in a statement.
However, former FA executive Simon Johnson called on the FA to punish the 24-year-old Balotelli.
"We abhor all forms of
racism, wherever it is found," Johnson, who is the current chief
executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, told the Daily Telegraph.
"We call upon the FA to
investigate this offensive social media post and to take action if
appropriate if we are to succeed in kicking racism out of football."
Playing iIn Italy,
Balotelli frequently faced racist abuse in stadiums, while in September
Merseyside police investigated racist remarks on Twitter made to
Balotelli after he posted a message during Manchester United's 5-3
defeat against Leicester City.
Balotelli has yet to
score a Premier League goal since joining Liverpool from AC Milan in the
summer transfer window, though he did find the net against Ludogorets
in the Champions League as well as against Swansea in the English League
Cup.
The minimum ban for race-related rule breaches is five games under the FA's social media guidelines.
Image : Source
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