Spain's Olympic basketball team created uproar (in Asia) this week, when the above photo was published in Spanish newspaper, El Mundo.
Showing the players slanting their eyes for the Beijing Olympics, the picture was published in an advertisement promoting the Spanish courier company, Seur, that sponsors the Olympic team.
While El Mundo is debating whether the picture is racist or not, I got a good laugh out of it—yet the response from Pau Gasol is misleading.
“Some of us didn’t feel comfortable doing it just because to me it was a little clownish for our part to be doing that,” Gasol said. “But the sponsors insisted and insisted. I think it is just a bad idea I guess to do that, but it was never intended to be offensive or racist against anybody."
Pau, here is a little advice: If something sounds like a bad idea, and you don't feel comfortable doing it, it's probably not the best idea to go ahead and do it. Especially when the action is aimed at about two billion people and you are going to be representing your country in a convention that promotes unity.
A round of applause for the Spanish Basketball Team. You now have an entire continent against you.
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