The original purpose was to fight negative stereotypes

Dec 2, 2014 13:50 GMT  ·  By

Mario Balotelli, widely considered a major talent in the world of football but long seen as too unstable to become a truly great player, has again landed in hot water after he posted an image that can be considered anti-Semitic on his official Twitter account, taking one of the classic Super Mario jokes and twisting it in some dark ways.

When the joke initially made the rounds on the Internet it simply used the character in his iconic mid jump representation and stated, “Be like Mario, he's an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican.”

The message is clearly a positive one, but later an addition was made, which stated, “He jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.”

The first part of that sentence could be seen as offensive but also positive, but the second one is clearly intended to promote stereotypes and serves no positive purpose whatsoever.

Since Mario Balotelli posted the image on Twitter, he has suggested that no racism was involved, saying that his mother was Jewish, and then also issued an apology, according to NeoGAF.

The image was quickly erased from the account of the current Liverpool player, but he is at the moment under investigation for it and the outcome will probably be negative.

Liverpool will speak to the player and the Football Association in the United Kingdom might also take action against him.

Footballers should stay clear of video game content except for endorsements

Most football players are careful about their public images and tend to only create a link with video games when they appear in a promotional spot for either FIFA from EA Sports or Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami.

Balotelli should have been more careful when choosing what image of Mario to post on Twitter or at least try to come up with better associations based on his name.

It will be interesting to see whether the video game meme image leads to his suspension from football.

If that happens, the development team at EA Sports will probably have to issue a patch in order to eliminate him from FIFA 15, including the Ultimate Team mode.

Something similar happened with last year’s version of the football title when Luis Suarez got his big ban for biting an opponent, and players have also been taken out from Madden NFL when they were eliminated from the sport for their actions.

Mario Balotelli Video Game Joke Images (5 Images)

Balotelli's racist Twitter message
Liverpool playerPromising youngster
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