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Racist gesture at Korean World Cup fan costs Mexican engineering guild chief his post

The man apologised and said he had resigned after a viral video showed him pulling at the corners of his eyes during a match in Guadalajara

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Left: South Korean YouTuber Yoon Su-jin, who posts under the handle InoCat, filming fans at a World Cup match in Guadalajara. Right: A man identified as Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes apologising for making an offensive gesture towards her in a later video. Photos: Instagram / inocat_t / latinus_us
SCMP’s Asia desk
A Mexican man who led an engineering guild has apologised after losing his position over a video showing him making a racist gesture at a South Korean fan during a World Cup match in Guadalajara.

Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes came under fire after he was seen pulling at the corners of his eyes – a gesture derogatory towards people of Asian descent – in a video posted by South Korean influencer Yoon Su-jin.

Yoon, a YouTuber whose creator handle is InoCat, captured Bernal, who was wearing Mexico’s away jersey, laughing and making hand gestures during Thursday’s South Korea-Czech Republic World Cup match at Estadio Akron.
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She posted the clip with the caption: “POV: When you experienced racism at the World Cup”.

“I came all the way to Mexico for the World Cup, but … am I being too sensitive?” she wrote in Korean.

The video drew swift condemnation and outrage online. Some commenters who identified as Mexican wrote under Yoon’s post: “That guy doesn’t represent us as Mexicans”, “As a fellow Mexican, I am ashamed” and “I apologise on his behalf”.

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