'Super Mario' Balotelli back in trouble after potentially racist Super Mario tweet

Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli is to be investigated by the Football Association (FA) for a potentially racist and anti-Semitic social media post, British media reported on Monday. The Italian later deleted the post from his Instagram page. [caption id=“attachment_1692861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli is to be investigated by the Football Association (FA) for a potentially racist and anti-Semitic social media post, British media reported on Monday. Getty Images[/caption] “We are aware of the posting which has since been promptly deleted by the player,” a Liverpool spokesman told the BBC. “We will be speaking to the player about the issue.” Former FA executive Simon Johnson, who is the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said the 24-year-old should be punished. “We abhor all forms of racism, wherever it is found,” he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper. “We call upon the FA to investigate this offensive social media post and to take action if appropriate if we are to succeed in kicking racism out of football.” https://twitter.com/LFCFansCorner/status/539502289598545920/photo/1 The Liverpool striker reposted an image of the Nintendo character Super Mario on his social media feed that contained the words “jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a jew”. “I apologize if I’ve offended anyone,” Balotelli said on Twitter. “The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour. I now understand that out of context it may have the opposite effect.” Liverpool said they will speak to the striker who signed from AC Milan in August. With input from Reuters