(I bet they would be singing a different tune if the Spaniards were making fun of U.S. athletes by, say, stuffing pillows under their unis and looking as if they were morbidly obese).
Members of the Spanish basketball squad defended the print ad with one of them trotting out the lame “my best friend is ____” defense. Naturally, the corrupt International Olympic Committee accepted the team’s apology.
There have been several instances if racism and sport in Spain in the past; monkey chants were made from the stands of a 2004 England-Spain soccer friendly in Madrid, while in the 1990s ex-Atletico Madrid owner Jesus Gil y Gil threatening to “slash the nigger’s throat” and “shit on the bitch mother” of Colombian player Adolfo Valencia.
This is not the first time a Spanish ad has been controversial due to tastelessness and possible racism; this 2007 commercial for Iberia Airlines was deemed “offensive” and could even have been interpreted as pedophilic:
Sources- Associated Press, YouTube, Wikipedia, New York Times, Torontoist, The Latin Americanist
I do not understand why you imply that any one on the programme did not express offense or disagreement with what our team did. Only one person did not state that it was offensive, and that individual was trying to be humourous, which is the concept of that particular show.
ReplyDeleteThere are people who see what they wish to see and not what occurs.