Mexicans tweet ‘WeAreAllApes’ after a politician’s racist rant against Ronaldinho

MEXICO CITY — White pop stars aren't the only ones who embarrass themselves with inane racist ramblings on social media.

Carlos Trevino has proved that Mexican politicians can do it, too.

Trevino, a former development secretary in the state of Queretaro, has caused outrage by calling Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho an “ape.”

Trevino’s moment of bigoted madness came Friday when he was apparently held up in traffic due to Ronaldinho’s arrival to play for the local Queretaro soccer team.

After two hours in traffic, Trevino angrily thumbed this outrage onto his Facebook page.

“Seriously I try to be tolerant, but I HATE FOOTBALL, and the stupid phenomenon it produces…I hate it even more because people get in the way and flood streets making me take two hours to get home…And all to see an APE…Brazilian but still an ape. This is a ridiculous circus.”

Once one of the world’s most prolific players, Ronaldinho is of black African descent although like many Brazilians he has a mixed heritage.

Trevino is a member of Mexico’s conservative National Action Party or PAN, of former presidents Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox.

The comment quickly brought the wrath it deserves here in Mexico.

Soccer club Queretaro, known as the “White Roosters,” demanded Trevino be punished under Mexico’s discrimination laws.

“Racial discrimination is a grave social expression that hurts people’s dignity,” it said in a statement.

The team also launched a Twitter campaign under #TodosSomosSimios (We are all apes). The hashtag led Mexico's trending terms on the social media site for much of Monday. (At times it lost out to another one that translates to "How to be a good Mexican" — it was the country's independence day after all.)

Queretaro’s PAN leadership also condemned the comment and said it supported legal action against Trevino.

In face of the threat, Trevino apparently removed the comment and issued apologies on his Twitter account.

That translates to: “A sincere apology to Club Queretaro and its fans for my unfortunate statement. As a person and player, Ronaldinho has all my respect.”

Racism has been a problem in world soccer for many decades, and associations have emitted hefty fines and punishments to clamp down on it.

In April, Barcelona players including Brazilian Neymar posted photos eating bananas in an anti-racism campaign.

Mexico has a very small population of people of African descent. Most Mexicans characterize themselves as “mestizo,” a mix of indigenous and European ancestry, and they often shun talking about diversity, anti-discrimination activists told GlobalPost. But “whiteness” still connotes power and money here and across the Americas.

More from GlobalPost: In Mexico, social gaps go viral on YouTube

While most Mexicans condemn racism, some stereotypical references to black people have provoked controversy in recent years.

President Fox made a notorious gaffe when he told a reporter that Mexican migrants do the jobs “that not even blacks want to do.”

Anti-racist campaigners have also complained about Mexican comic character “Memin Pinguin” for showing images of a black child portrayed like a monkey.