A Greek sports commentator was expelled for making derogatory comments about a Korean athlete during a live broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Associated Press reported on the 27th (local time), citing local media.
Greek state broadcaster ERT Television announced on the same day that it will terminate its broadcasting contract with guest commentator Dimosthenis Karmoiris, a former journalist who made racist remarks while commenting on the Tokyo Olympics table tennis match.
The remarks in question came right after Korea's Jung Young-sik defeated Greece's Panaggiotis Zionis 4-3 in the men's table tennis singles match and the round of 16 was confirmed.
When Caster asked to rate the skill of a Korean player, Carmoiris said, "It's hard to understand how you can see the (table tennis) ball moving back and forth with those little eyes," and it went on the air without filtration.
It is a statement in the same context as Westerners demeaning Asians' appearance with so-called 'eye tearing'.
After the remarks, a number of posts were posted on the local social networking service (SNS) accusing Carmoiris' remarks.
After the controversy, ERT issued a statement a few hours later, saying, "There is no room for racist remarks on public broadcasters." "The collaboration with Carmoiris has ended as of today."
On the 26th, Carmoiris also said, "I completely ruined the game," dpa news agency reported.
(Photo = Yonhap News)