KLM angers Mexicans with tweet

Royal Dutch Airlines has become the focus of a racism row over a tweet the airline posted after Oranje's controversial last-minute win over Mexico in the World Cup match on Sunday. The tweet read: "Adios Amigos! #NEDMEX" and included a photograph of a departure board with an icon of a Mexican mustachioed caricature wearing a sombrero and poncho. The tweet was adding insult to injury, and it was not well received. The tweet was removed after 45 minutes, but not before the message was retweeted around 8000 times. Some Dutch tweeters took it as the joke it was apparently meant to be, but many people complained that it was disrespectful and unethical. Many Mexicans were outraged about the tweet, one angry Mexico fan wrote "Lack of respect and ethics. HUEVOS PUTOS", "This is how a Dutch airline mocks us", another complains. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, known from Y tu mamá tambien, was incensed, and has vowed never to use the airline again. He removed this tweet later, and apologized saying that he was "caught by the football bug that spoiled my sense of humor." This is not the first time that a tweet during the World Cup put a Dutch person or company in hot water. Nicolette van Dam tweeted a photoshopped picture of two Colombian players snorting the referee's' white magic spray line from the field. It costed her the ambassadorship from Unicef. Mexican airline company Aeroméxico reacted to KLM in a calmer manner, simply showing an image of an arrivals board with the words: "Thank you for this great championship, we are proud and we wait for you at home #VivaMéxico".