English FA charged Mario Balotelli over 'racist' instagram post

Is what he posted (left) racist though? English FA seem to think so. Liver Pool striker striker Mario Balotelli has been charged by the Football Association for posting an image of the Nintendo character, Super Mario on instagram and writing "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a jew”

Just a few hours after Balotelli posted it on December 1, many people said they found it offensive and accused him of Racism and Antisemitism. 

Balotelli deleted the image after it caused a lot of controversy, denied the accusations of racism and then issued an apology on Facebook to people who found the pic offensive...

Despite the public apology, the FA still charged him.

Ballotelli submitted his observation of the post to the FA committee yesterday Dec. 5th, stating he had no intention of being racial with the photo and that he has also been a victim of racial attacks before. He was subsequently charged under rule E3, which cites as “aggravating factors” references to ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

The FA in its charge said “It is alleged the Liverpool player breached FA Rule E3 (1) in that his posting was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper. It is further alleged that this is an ‘Aggravated Breach’ as defined by FA Rule E3[2] as it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief. The player has until 6pm on 15 December 2014 to respond to the charge.”