Mario Balotelli charged for racist Instagram post
Mario Balotelli charged for racist Instagram post.
Italian soccer star, Mario Balotelli, has been charged by the English FA for an “aggravated breach” when he posted a picture to Instagram with racial statements.
The post, Balotelli maintains, was meant to be “anti-racist with humor.” The image was a picture of the Nintendo character Mario with a caption including the phrase “jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.”
When the image generated controversy, even drawing accusations of racism and antisemitism, Balotelli deleted the post and issued an apology on Facebook: “I apologize if I’ve offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humor. I now understand that out of context may have the opposite effect. Not all Mexicans have moustache, 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.”
Balotelli submitted his response to the FA charges on Friday and said he had no racial intentions and that he himself had been the victim of racial attacks.
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