RODRIGO Bentancur drew widespread criticism after he made a comment at the expense of his Tottenham teammate Son Hueng-min.
The footballer now faces charges from the FA, after making the comment on a Uruguayan TV show.
On the show, Rodrigo was asked about a teammate’s shirt.
He responded: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too. They all look the same.”
The video quickly spread across social media, leading Bentancur to post an apology on his Instagram story.
In the video, he said: “Brother! I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke!”
However, there is still the possibility that Bentancur could face a serious ban.
The FA charged Rodrigo with breaching FA Rule E3, which covers references to someone’s nationality, race, or ethnic origin.
The football body went one step further by releasing a public statement about the incident.
The statement read: “Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged with an alleged breach of FA Rule E3 for misconduct in relation to a media interview.
“It’s alleged that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.
“It’s further alleged that this constitutes an “aggravated breach” which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”
Rodrigo has until September 19, 2024, to respond to the charges.
It is not known how the FA will respond, once Rodrigo has addressed the charges, but they have a long history of punishing racist comments made by players.
In 2011, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was fined £40,000 and given an 8-match ban, after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
Also, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, was fined £50,000 and given a one-match ban, after he made a comment about Benjamin Mendy.
Tottenham Hotspur FC released a statement regarding the incident, which included comments from Son.
Son said: “I’ve spoken with Lolo. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.
“We’re past this, we’re united, and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”
The football club has also said that further education promoting diversity, equality, and inclusion will be given to their players.
They also said they hope that this will have a positive outcome.
