To be honest, this is no surprise to see, but yes, it shows in general how insensitive and culturally inept Australia is. Even though the tweet has since been deleted and a statement to clear the air issued, it doesn’t change the fact that this was a case of casual racism.
With the FIFA World Cup happening in Qatar, betting corporation the TAB made a very offensive and casually racist tweet about the last names of the S Korean team. The tweet has since been deleted, but here is what was written:
“Feel for the commentator doing the South Korea game” above a picture of the South Korean squad, accompanied by the caption: “Kim passes to Kim who passes to Kim who passes to Kim who passes to Hwang who passes to Hwang who passes to Hwang… #QatarWorldCUP2022”.
It was Australian Financial Review journalist Mark Di Stefano who posted a screenshot of this last week and questioned the TAB over the racism:
The tweet has since been deleted by the TAB with a spokesperson providing a statement to SBS News saying that the post was an
“inappropriate social media post because it didn’t meet the company’s standards.”
“The post was generated by junior staff and TAB has created additional checks and balances before future posts go live.”
Sounds a bit like passing the buck. Here are some tweets from netizens – sadly most feel this is a joke, but we got to remember, the TAB didn’t do this to anyone else except the S Korean team, so there is casual racism here:
Shona Yang, founder of social media platform Kozziecom – which celebrates Korean Australian stories and culture said the tweet was ‘not funny’ and that she was ‘disgusted’ by the tweet and that the TAB showed a ‘lack of respect’ (via SBS News):
“I’m outraged and disgusted at TAB’s tweet. It’s not funny. It’s ignorant and blatantly disrespectful. I was born and raised in Australia with a Korean surname and it’s not the first time I’ve heard an offensive ‘joke’ about my name,” she said.
“It was an incredible experience last night seeing Korean names and faces on an international screen, but to read a tweet like that from an Australian account is so disheartening.”
“These are players that are internationally renowned and deserve the same level of respect and acknowledgement that a commentator would give to the players of any other team … Son Heung Min is a player in a Premier League club and it’s frightening that even at a World Cup level, a national team can be reduced to a joke about a foreign-sounding surname,”
What do you all think? Let us know in the comments!
Images via Twitter, SBS News and FIFA World Cup