Posted on 02/11/2014 8:37:01 AM PST by Altenkrug
SOCHI, Russia, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Irina Rodnina, the figure skater who lit the Olympic flame at the Sochi Games, blamed hackers on Monday for a tweet about U.S. President Barack Obama that caused a racism row.
Some Western media questioned the choice of Russia's triple Olympic champion Rodnina featuring in the climax of the Games opening ceremony on Friday.
A tweet on her timeline last year showed a picture of Obama which was photoshopped to add a banana in the foreground. The image angered many including the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who called it "outrageous behaviour".
"I respect the Obama family and apologise for not clearly stating earlier that I don't support the tweeted photo or racism in any form," Rodnina said on her Twitter feed. "My account was hacked and I should have shown better judgement in my initial response and handling of the event."
Rodnina is a lawmaker who supports Russian President Vladimir Putin but Games chief Dmitry Chernyshenko has denied that choosing her to light the flame was a political act.
The skater struck a different tone when the photo first emerged in September. Rodnina said then that she had been sent the picture by friends in the United States, adding: "Freedom of speech is freedom of speech and you should answer for your own hang-ups".
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
IMHO, if Reuters won’t show a picture of the ‘rasist’ tweet, then STFU. So what?
Are we allowed to tweet silly pictures of Putin?
The hilarious photo in question:
T’wasn’t rasists anyway, IMHO. Moochelle makes a career out of telling us what to eat, especially froots and veggies, so that’s all the pic was showing. Embrace the suck, MObama...
It’s going to be racis’ to say that Michelle eats kale all’a time.
In our culture that would be unacceptable. They exist in a different culture. Aren’t all cultures equally valid?
Is the Popeye’s Fried Chicken commercial racist? They sure seem to be marketing to blacks. “Love that chicken from Popeyes!”
The picture is silly. No doubt about it. I posted the topic just to hear opinons on whether there was any political aspect to that. A lady from Putin’s entouragé who did it is given the honor to light the Olympic flame...
Love it! Hell, I’d have let her light the flame too!
So she’s following Anthony Weiner’s lead?
Monkey with a hand grenade?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171368#.UvpuiPldWSo
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