Published 16:20 IST, October 2nd 2019
Bernardo Silva could land in trouble over Mendy Twitter post
Premier League: Bernardo Silva has been charged for misconduct by the FA for an alleged "racist" Twitter post about his Manchester City teammate Benjamin Mendy.
- SportFit
- 2 min read
Premier League: Manchester City's 2018-2019 Player of Season - Bernando Silva - tweeted an image of his Man City teammate Benjamin Mendy's childhood, alongside an image of the mascot of a Spanish confectionery brand Conguitos and captioned it "Guess who?". He faced severe backlash on Twitter for his post as netizens termed it as a "racist act". Bernardo Silva later removed the post from his account and claimed the post to be a "joke" with his friend. The FA said Bernardo had been charged with misconduct after it was alleged his post was "insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute".
'Kick it Out', which is an anti-racism organisation criticised the tweet, saying racist stereotypes are never acceptable as 'banter'. The FA instructed that Bernando Silva's post 'constitutes an aggravated breach' because it refers 'to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin'.
Premier League: Pep Guardiola and Raheem Sterling defend Bernardo Silva
According to reports, Bernardo Silva later wrote to the FA expressing his regret over the tweet, while Benjamin Mendy also came to his support to say that no personal offence was caused by the tweet. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola also extended his support to the player by saying that Bernardo is one the loveliest people he has met in his life and one can judge his open-mindedness towards different cultures from the number of languages he speaks (five). Guardiola also added that Mendy is Bernardo's closest friend.
Bernando Silva’s Man City team-mate, Raheem Sterling, who is known to be very vocal for his strong stand against racism, also defended the player. Sterling, while speaking to British media added that he has a proper sense why people got touchy about the post but Silva made a joke about his friend and that had nothing to do with Mendy’s skin colour or his lips.
Updated 18:59 IST, October 2nd 2019