Home : TMZ Sports : Spanish Hoops Squad Takes Its Eyes Off the Ball

TMZ Sports
Spanish Hoops Squad Takes Its Eyes Off the Ball

Posted Aug 11th 2008 1:30PM by TMZ Staff

How do you ingratiate yourself into a foreign culture? Take a photo mocking the way they look!
Spanish basketball team
The Spanish national basketball team, gold medal contenders at the Olympics in Beijing, was featured in a full page ad that shows the team pulling back at their eyes in a slanty-eyed gesture. According to the Guardian, the ad (which is for a freight company) ran in a Spanish newspaper.

An e-mail to the Spanish Basketball Federation was not immediately returned.

Comments [89]
SHARE |
4ie6

Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 6) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. Racist? Not really.

Stupid and immature? Yes.

Posted at 12:12PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Reality TV Sucks

2. Hey Nina, Why don't you throw down your race card on this issue? Oh wait, you don't care because it's not offensive to blacks. You're such a racist.

Posted at 12:12PM on Aug 11th 2008 by NinasIsTheWorstKindaRacist

3. Now lets see if the asians complain about them to the point of their jobs being in jeopardy or if that just happens to americans.

Posted at 12:15PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Overt

4. #2--

Nina is too busy holding up paint swatches to Loreal ads to deal with the other news...

Posted at 12:16PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Reality TV Sucks

5. Next time they can dress up as clowns or TMZ employees, wait ... that's redundant

Posted at 12:17PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Farmer Ted

6. Esta racist? LOL!
And of course it is, duh...

Posted at 12:18PM on Aug 11th 2008 by FlamingoNut

7. That's what I call 'embracing our cultural differences'

Posted at 12:19PM on Aug 11th 2008 by JM

8. Esta loco. But kinda funeeeeee.

Posted at 12:19PM on Aug 11th 2008 by thenerveofthem

9. I don't know if it's racist, per se, but it is very uncool and unsportsmanlike.

Posted at 12:21PM on Aug 11th 2008 by ShameAboutRaisins

10. It's just funny. People are way too quick to make things 'racist'.

Posted at 12:22PM on Aug 11th 2008 by jmk

11. ...or maybe they are saying, "Keep your eye on the ball".

Posted at 12:24PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Obamasmama

12. 4. #2--

Nina is too busy holding up paint swatches to Loreal ads to deal with the other news...

Posted at 12:16PM on Aug 11th 2008 by Reality TV Sucks

How freaking hilarious and spot on you are!

Posted at 12:25PM on Aug 11th 2008 by NinasPallette

13. .....probably they were just THINKING really hard??? Man people get over all the racist sh!t!!!

Posted at 12:26PM on Aug 11th 2008 by JEnJEn

14. Is it racist? Sure... But see, we Asians have been mocked and made fun of for so long that this doesn't feel racist. Some are saying it's funny. Of course. But let's say the players instead were mocking blacks, and they all decided to sport big afro wigs. Would that be racist? Certainly.

But Asians won't make a big fuss over it. It's not our nature. We just keep doing our own thing. Make fun if you must, but no one will lose their job over this ad. No one will get sued. There are no Chinese Jesse Jacksons to call for a boycott. We won't be marching on Capitol Hill. And this is why Asians continue to get made fun of. We're the race that's safe to mock.

Posted at 12:29PM on Aug 11th 2008 by AznLA

15. Racist? Of course not.

Besides, the Chinese are the worst racists in the world, closely followed by the Japanese.

Try to have a sense of humor, O.K?

Posted at 12:33PM on Aug 11th 2008 by joho777

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments