It's all fun and games 'til someone gets racist on Twitter...

[renee shah]

Özil reports Twitter user for racial abuse

PEPE ÍÑIGUEZ. Hamburg 06/19/2012

Real Madrid's German international Mesut Özil has reported the owner of a Twitter account for racial abuse, after the player was accused of not being German, according to the Bild newspaper.

The player's lawyer - Sascha Beumer – decided to take legal action after an unknown Twitter user posted messages using a private account during the Denmark-Germany game, stating that the player was not German and criticising his surname – which is of Muslim descent.

"Özil isn't German! A piece of paper doesn't change your origins", were the unknown user’s words in their first message, then adding that nobody with a non-German name should play in the German team.

Soon after, amid the protests - both online and offline -, Twitter decided to block the user's account from where the racist comments came from.

The Real Madrid player's father and agent - Mustafa Özil – totally agreed with his son's decision to report the incident: "it's important to say that you can't get away with saying things like that. This person has overstepped the mark".

Özil – who has played in all three of Germany's games so far in the 2012 Euros – was born in Gelsenkirchen (West Germany), while his parents come from Turkey. The Real Madrid player has always defended his German status.

Comments

[suzanne410.livejournal.com]

This whole issue continues to baffle me, and yet I understand that it’s not as simple as I’d like to make it. Simpleminded me thinks, “He was born and raised in Germany!” end of story. But of course I realize there is a great deal of history and politics involved. Mix in a dose of ignorance, a lack of tolerance, a hefty amount of idiocy and you’ll likely end up with racism at it’s finest.
I like to think that with each passing generation we get a little better. My parents, though I love them dearly, say things about people’s ethnicity or nationality that surprise and upset me. Just the other day I was with my mom wearing my Ozil jersey. She must have said 3 times, “Just look at that name!”, “It’s such a strange name!”, “Can you imagine if that was your last name?” (to which I quickly replied, Why yes… yes I can! hahaha) This was coming from a woman whose married name (and the name I grew up with) is 10 letters long, very Eastern European in nature, and one that no one can ever pronounce! I just couldn’t understand why she had an issue with it… so I chalked it up to her age and a lack of exposure. But my point being, I don’t think anyone in my family of my generation would think or say something like this simply because it wouldn’t BE something we’d find “strange”.
And last thing… Sadly, I don’t wonder if looks play a part in this. He LOOKS Turkish (obviously). He does not LOOK “typical” German. This kills me because we’ve dealt with this in my own family (my hubby is Hispanic and very dark). But some people just can’t seem to accept others who “look” different. Anyways, the twitter account should be disabled, and I’m proud of Mesut for taking a stand on this.