Bernardo Silva | Man City Player

How do you feel about your manager defending it?

I didn't see him defending it or read the article, but if he did which I'll take your word for he's wrong. Plain and simple, this shouldn't fly in 2019. Pep should have come down hard on this, particularly as he has issues with social media anyway.
 
Why do you think it's racist? I'm actually interested.

I have a mate (white) that looks like Arnold from the old cartoon "Hey Arnold" and people send him the pic all the time. What's the difference?

Why, because that ad/cartoon has gotten loads of flak for its offensive nature before. Secondly because Mendy and the image have nothing in common and it feeds the stereotype that "they all look the same".

Now I don't think bs racist and my big issue with his post more than likely made in ignorance gives ammunition to people to hurt people.

Not sure if it was this thread or the other, I posted but let's say some 11 year old kid sees this on his hero's twitter and thinks it's perfectly fine to send it to a class mate with the picture of mendy swapped for said classmate.

It's spreading racism through ignorance as opposed to spreading it through ill intent. How many kids see that on twitter and think it's funny to send to black kids who might find it hurtful.

So and this is just imho that makes it a racist post despite bs probably being a nice lad.
 
I didn't see him defending it or read the article, but if he did which I'll take your word for he's wrong. Plain and simple, this shouldn't fly in 2019. Pep should have come down hard on this, particularly as he has issues with social media anyway.

Hopefully he did in private. Pep strikes me as the kind of guy who'd rather ignore the fact social media exists than get into a debate about something that happened on it.

As I'm sure you know he's expressed those concerns before: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...a-late-treatment-anthony-joshua-a8559941.html

I think the most telling action will be through the club's response to the FA, not Pep himself.
 
Hopefully he did in private. Pep strikes me as the kind of guy who'd rather ignore the fact social media exists than get into a debate about something that happened on it.

As I'm sure you know he's expressed those concerns before: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...a-late-treatment-anthony-joshua-a8559941.html

I think the most telling action will be through the club's response to the FA, not Pep himself.

I agree but something like "Bernardo is a nice lad and there was no ill intent but as a role model he has to understand the role he plays in society and has to understand these type of jokes are completely unacceptable whether in public or private".

Just think of the position they've put raheem in. The first thing a piece of shit like Miguel Delaney will ask raheem when he sees him is "did you talk to Bernardo" and "what do you think of your manager not speaking out on it".
Both legit questions that put the lad in a horrible position.
 
I agree but something like "Bernardo is a nice lad and there was no ill intent but as a role model he has to understand the role he plays in society and has to understand these type of jokes are completely unacceptable whether in public or private".

Just think of the position they've put raheem in. The first thing a piece of shit like Miguel Delaney will ask raheem when he sees him is "did you talk to Bernardo" and "what do you think of your manager not speaking out on it".
Both legit questions that put the lad in a horrible position.

Very true. You'd hope the club would brief Raheem about it because it's bound to happen - although he's a fairly smart guy and I'm sure he'll handle himself well.
 
Guardiola said: “I don’t know what is going to happen but they should put the focus on other issues because they don’t know which guy you are talking about. Bernardo is one of the most lovely people I have ever met in my life.

“He speaks four or five languages – that is the best way to understand how open-minded he is – and one of his best friends is Mendy. He is like a brother for him. The image for the two is not about the colour of the skin. He took a picture of Benjamin when he was young and he related it to this cartoon, which was quite similar for the image …

“If they [the FA] want to do that, to ask Bernardo, we’d be open to talk, but first to do that you have to know exactly which person are you talking about.

“There are many situations with people, with white people and you look at a cartoon and [the face] is quite similar as your face and you put it in there, it is quite similar.

“I think the response from Mendy was clear after that. They are joking all the time. Maybe it is what I said many times and my advice is not to use social media too much. If something happens it would be a mistake because Bernardo is an exceptional person."

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...bernardo-silva-mendy-tweet-fa-manchester-city
 
Does anyone remember this from last summer? Caused a bit of a stir back then too:


ethnic banter with close mates is one thing but putting it on social media is beyond stupid
 
The social media angle is the only objectionable aspect here. Apart from that, it's just a lot of people getting offended about something that has nothing to do with them. I rarely agree with Pep. I do here.
 
He posted that on social media now imagine how many of his young fans who know nothing about racism will try to imitate him
 
The picture he used has clear racist connotations... what did he expect the reaction would be? I'm amazed there are people like Pep supporting him.
 
The picture he used has clear racist connotations... what did he expect the reaction would be? I'm amazed there are people like Pep supporting him.

Surprisingly John Barnes on sky also didnt feel anything racist from Silva twitter post.

Barnes believes Silva would have a case to answer had he posted the Conguitos cartoon, where the character is an African tribesman, but not for the picture.

"Showing a caricature of a little black boy, and a real black boy, how is that racial stereotyping?" asked Barnes. "He did not show the cartoon, all he did was put up two pictures.

"If he talked about the cartoon they [the FA and Kick It Out] can then say, 'yes that's discriminatory'. It's just a picture of two people and some may argue they look alike.

Will be interesting to see what Sterling thinks.
 
Last edited:
The issue here is Bernardo Silva making a comment like that on a social media, and writing it off as a joke with a close friend - is that it's implying that being close friends with someone automatically puts racist jokes back on the table. That's setting a dangerous example for impressionable young people who are following him.

The fact that Mendy doesn't mind is irrelevant. You can be great friends with someone but it's perfectly fine for them to not accept racial stereotyping in the name of banter.
 
There's nothing racist about it. People make a mountain out of a mole hill.
 
I wouldn't take too kindly to some of my good white friends if they had done the same thing. There will be a lot of black people who will feel this way, and most of them will just laugh it off and pretend to not be upset by it. Also, there are black people who see nothing wrong with it, like Barnes.
What would Pep and Bernardo say to the first group of people ive just mentioned?
Shouldn't the initial response from a reasonable person be to apologise for any offense caused, stating there was no ill intent? Why is Bernardos character being used as a defense? Nobody is accusing him of being a racist. Just acknowledge, learn from it and move on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteveJ
The issue here is Bernardo Silva making a comment like that on a social media, and writing it off as a joke with a close friend - is that it's implying that being close friends with someone automatically puts racist jokes back on the table. That's setting a dangerous example for impressionable young people who are following him.

The fact that Mendy doesn't mind is irrelevant. You can be great friends with someone but it's perfectly fine for them to not accept racial stereotyping in the name of banter.
I think that's a bit OTT and giving Bernardo Silva way too much power there.
 
Ohh Pep, Pep. Don't you understand that for you to be a racist you just need someone tweeting "that's racism".

You need to understand that nothing else matters.
 
Last edited:
It's so silly from Pep. He doesn't get it. It's as if someone travels a lot so can't possibly be a racist.

I doubt that Pep even wants to get it. Just like he "doesn't get" most questions about the clubs owners. He's there to play good football and win trophies, it's easier for him to do that if he pretends not to have a strong opinion on these things.
 
I doubt that Pep even wants to get it. Just like he "doesn't get" most questions about the clubs owners. He's there to play good football and win trophies, it's easier for him to do that if he pretends not to have a strong opinion on these things.
Comes across as a huge hypocrite.
 
Ohh Pep, Pep. Don't you understand that for you to be a racist you just need someone tweeting "that's racism".

You need to understand that nothing else matters.

Except nobody on here called Bernardo a racist, yet some on here keep trying to derail the discussion by claiming that.
Disappointing from Pep. Separate the man from the action. A man can commit a racist action without himself being racist. Hopefully Bernardo gets a ban, that'll be the only way he and Pep will realise the gravity of this.
The wider and more disappointing point for me is peoples lack of trying to understand why something like this would be offensive. Instead we get the instinctive push back (oversensitive, SJW and all that other nonsense). Education and empathy. No one has the right to tell anyone else how they should react/ feel about any given situation.
 
I wouldn't take too kindly to some of my good white friends if they had done the same thing. There will be a lot of black people who will feel this way, and most of them will just laugh it off and pretend to not be upset by it. Also, there are black people who see nothing wrong with it, like Barnes.
What would Pep and Bernardo say to the first group of people ive just mentioned?
Shouldn't the initial response from a reasonable person be to apologise for any offense caused, stating there was no ill intent? Why is Bernardos character being used as a defense? Nobody is accusing him of being a racist. Just acknowledge, learn from it and move on.
Agreed.

The surprise got some will be that all black people don't have the same opinion. What a revelation!
 
Except nobody on here called Bernardo a racist, yet some on here keep trying to derail the discussion by claiming that.
Disappointing from Pep. Separate the man from the action. A man can commit a racist action without himself being racist. Hopefully Bernardo gets a ban, that'll be the only way he and Pep will realise the gravity of this.
The wider and more disappointing point for me is peoples lack of trying to understand why something like this would be offensive. Instead we get the instinctive push back (oversensitive, SJW and all that other nonsense). Education and empathy. No one has the right to tell anyone else how they should react/ feel about any given situation.

The irony is that people are constantly offended about others being offended, apparently.
 
Agreed.

The surprise got some will be that all black people don't have the same opinion. What a revelation!

Indeed, you can see some of them on here. How dare some black people get offended by this? Shouldn't they be quiet like the rest of them? Sadly, its ignorance.
 
Except nobody on here called Bernardo a racist, yet some on here keep trying to derail the discussion by claiming that.
Disappointing from Pep. Separate the man from the action. A man can commit a racist action without himself being racist. Hopefully Bernardo gets a ban, that'll be the only way he and Pep will realise the gravity of this.
The wider and more disappointing point for me is peoples lack of trying to understand why something like this would be offensive. Instead we get the instinctive push back (oversensitive, SJW and all that other nonsense). Education and empathy. No one has the right to tell anyone else how they should react/ feel about any given situation.

Well Mendy is an adult, if he feels slighted or offended by B Silva's racism, he should have the fecking balls to tell his mate. Instead we have countless inches of columns and postings of random users telling everyone else how they should react/feel about any given situation.
 
Indeed, you can see some of them on here. How dare some black people get offended by this? Shouldn't they be quiet like the rest of them? Sadly, its ignorance.

You got it wrong. People can be offended. It's their right to be offended. But, being offended isn't a given right you know. People used to be offended by a gay couple on the street. Should they use that to stop people from being happy? Of course not.

People used to be offended by girls using pants. Should girls stop using pants. You can get offended by two adults having fun with each other on a social network, has grown ass man(or woman) what you should do is press the unfollow button
 
You can't use any pants these days.
 
You got it wrong. People can be offended. It's their right to be offended. But, being offended isn't a given right you know. People used to be offended by a gay couple on the street. Should they use that to stop people from being happy? Of course not.

People used to be offended by girls using pants. Should girls stop using pants. You can get offended by two adults having fun with each other on a social network, has grown ass man(or woman) what you should do is press the unfollow button

I’m guessing you don’t quite get how racism, sexism and other put-down-isms work, if you are comparing racist banter with homosexual people or women being themselves. It’s almost as if you compare being offended by black racial slur with being offended by black skin.
 
I will say, by and large, our resident Portuguese posters are by far the most patriotic lot I've seen on this website. They truly defend their countrymen tooth and nail no matter what. The Ronaldo threads, the Jose threads and now this thread.
 
I will say, by and large, our resident Portuguese posters are by far the most patriotic lot I've seen on this website. They truly defend their countrymen tooth and nail no matter what. The Ronaldo threads, the Jose threads and now this thread.
:lol: I was thinking that.
 
“There are many situations with people, with white people and you look at a cartoon and [the face] is quite similar as your face and you put it in there, it is quite similar."

I hope Pep's being disingenuous there and isn't truly insinuating the image Bernardo Silva used looked similar to Mendy. Pep, speaker of 5 languages, should understand the distinction between comparing a white person and a black person to a cartoon image such as the one Silva used.

Despite the racist 'jokes' I doubt B. Silva holds strong racial views. He has came across as a likeable guy with a dry sense of humour in the clips I've seen of him and seems to be very close mates with Mendy. Hopefully he wises up after the backlash he's received from this.
 
Still can't believe how a brand that uses black people as chocolate reference is not considered racist around here. Just look at those adverts ffs.