‘Jewish’ soccer star Balotelli banned for racist post

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has been banned from Sunday’s match against Arsenal as punishment for posting racially offensive comments online.

The FA on Thursday imposed the one-match ban and a fine of 25,000 pounds ($39,000), while also ordering Balotelli to attend an education program for the “aggravated breach” of its discrimination rules.

Balotelli uploaded on Instagram a picture of the video-game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around the image including “jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew.”

The striker, who has been subjected to racial abuse on numerous occasions, posted the image of the computerized character with the heading “Don’t be a racist.”

“The FA decision has made clear it was wrong,” Balotelli said in a statement on his Twitter page. “I am sorry that my teammates and supporters of Liverpool FC have to be penalized for something I did and now come to regret.

“It is my intention to comply with the decision of the FA and make sure it never happens again.”

Balotelli was charged by the Football Association two weeks ago for re-posting the message on Instagram that contained racist and anti-Semitic references.

The post was titled “Don’t be a racist” and continued: “Be like Mario. He’s an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican.”

Balotelli deleted the post following criticism from other social media users, but after the FA confirmed it was looking into the matter, he wrote on Twitter: “I apologize 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 mustache, 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, who has been a victim of racism throughout his career, initially defended himself against accusations of anti-Semitism, tweeting: “My Mom is jewish so all of u shut up please.”

The 24-year-old, born in Italy to Ghanaian parents and then adopted by an Italian family, also described his decision to re-post the image as “my unlucky moment.”

Born Mario Barwuah, he publicly and memorably embraced his foster mother, Silvia Balotelli, after scoring the goals in a win over Germany which secured Italy a place in the Euro 2012 finals (where Italy lost 4-0 to Spain).

The Balotellis also reportedly have relatives in Israel, and their daughter studied at the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya.