A Swiss Olympian has been expelled from the Games for a racist tweet he posted this weekend.
Soccer player Michel Morganella posted the offensive message after Switzerland lost to South Korea 2-1 on Sunday. His tweet, according to one widely cited report, in part calls South Koreans “mentally handicapped retards.”
Morganella’s Twitter account, @morgatoss, has since been deactivated, but Swiss news site Le Matin captured a screenshot of the message.
Morganella posted the message Sunday, and Swiss officials decided to give him the boot Monday, the Associated Press reports.
Greek Olympian Voula Papachristou was booted from her country’s Olympic team last week after posting a racial joke to Twitter. She later said the punishment left her “very bitter and upset.”
Papachristou’s tweet roughly translated to: “With so many Africans in Greece…at least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food!!!”
She apologized for the tweet, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Greek Olympic Committee from expelling her from the Games. A spokesperson also told the Associated Press last week that the episode had prompted the country’s committee to prohibit Greek Olympians from using social media to talk about anything not directly related to the Games for the remainder of the event.
It’s interesting to note that, while some athletes criticized the International Olympic Committee before the Games for restrictions on what they’re allowed to share via social media, the two biggest Twitter controversies so far have been unrelated to those guidelines.
