Bernardo Silva Tweet Under Investigation by FA as Kick It Out Release Statement

Bernardo Silva is under investigation by the FA for an allegedly racist tweet aimed at friend and Manchester City teammate Benjamin Mendy, while equality

Bernardo Silva is under investigation by the FA for an allegedly racist tweet aimed at friend and Manchester City teammate Benjamin Mendy, while equality campaigners Kick It Out released a statement calling for 'retrospective action' and 'mandatory education' to ensure similar incidents don't happen again. 

The player shared an image on Twitter on Sunday comparing a photo of Mendy as a child to the mascot of controversial Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos. 

While Mendy himself appeared to take the since-deleted tweet as a joke, many have found the image to be racially insensitive. 

Bernado Silva did an oopsie 💀

BTW I'm sure that's supposed to be Mendy pic.twitter.com/rNEsAGjRUj

— Free 🇵🇸 | ⭐️⭐️ (@CFCUzair) September 22, 2019

That's a stance echoed by anti-racism campaigners Kick It Out, who issued a statement on Monday outlining their 'extreme disappointment' at the incident.

"We are extremely disappointed to see the tweet posted by Bernardo Silva, which has since been deleted," the statement reads. 

Breaking: @kickitout “extremely disappointed” & “shocked” by “offensive” Bernardo Silva tweet.
“Racist stereotypes are never acceptable as ‘banter’, and we’re shocked that someone who is a role model to millions has failed to understand the discriminatory nature of his post” pic.twitter.com/It0ruk964t

— Dan Roan (@danroan) September 23, 2019

"Racist stereotypes are never acceptable as 'banter', and we're shocked that someone who is a role model to millions has failed to understand the discriminatory nature of this post.

"The FA have been notified and we believe that retrospective action should be taken, including mandatory education - which is vital to challenge offensive behaviour such as this."

In the wake of the statement, the BBC's Simon Stone says the FA are looking into the post - so if any official charges are levelled at Silva then we're likely to hear about it in the coming days. 

The FA are reviewing @BernardoCSilva social media post from yesterday, both the post itself and the context of it.

— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 23, 2019

Manchester City are yet to comment, while Silva has deleted his tweet, following up with a subsequent post which reads "Can't even joke with a friend these days... You guys