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Spanish tennis team joins in on the Chinese-eyes “fun”

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

As you may have noticed by the hundreds of comments that this blog has received over the last few days, if there’s one thing that Spaniards and Spanish athletes share is their love of making ‘Chinese eyes’ and defending their countrymen and women who do so publicly.

When LAT columnist Bill Plaschke had the nerve to call foul on the Spanish national hoops team’s controversial advertisement, which starred the Lakers’ Pau Gasol, he was met with close to 400 comments that asked why the United States, of all countries, should have a problem with alleged racism when the country has a long laundry list of skeletons in its closet. Here is a comment (with spelling corrected):

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Just think this little country, as you call itDid not throw atomic bombs anywhere, Did not invade any country for the sake of oil, Did not support Sadam Hussein in the ‘80s, Did not support Chilean dictators in the ‘70s, and so on, and so on.........Does not have any Guantanamo to be ashamed of, no Iraq, Panama, or Afghanistan invasion to be proud of. - sebastian

The International Olympic Committee, however, agreed with Plaschke (and LAT columnist Mark Heisler) and said that, indeed the ad was ‘clearly’ inappropriate.

Today a new photo surfaced of the Spanish tennis team in front of a dining table full of drinks performing the same ‘Chinese eyes’ gesture for a photo, drawing criticism from U.S. blogs like Gawker and Digg.

To be continued?

-- Tony Pierce

photo via Spanish Tennis Federation

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