Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli came under fire recently after he forwarded an image through his Instagram account that many deemed to be racist. Here is the image:
The text reads:”Be like Mario, he’s an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican. He jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.”
When the firestorm began to come down Balotelli had what he must have thought was the perfect comeback.
Via BBC,
Responding to criticism on Twitter, Balotelli tweeted: “My Mom is Jewish so all of you shut up please.”
Look, we can agree that being racist and offensive are Two different things. No doubt in my mind that Balotelli just saw something he thought was funny and paid it forward thinking his followers would get a chuckle out of it. I’m sure a lot of them did but in our current society a few angry offended people take precedence.
Balotelli later apologized saying all the right things.
Via BBC,
“I apologise if I’ve offended anyone.
“The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour. I now understand that out of context it may have the opposite effect.
“Not all Mexicans have a moustache, not all black people jump high and not all Jewish people love money.
“I used a cartoon done by somebody else because it has Super Mario and I thought it was funny and not offensive. Again, I’m sorry.”
I think athletes and entertainers in general need to be smarter with what they post but people need to take things in context and stop being so insanely obsessive.