The women’s volleyball team of Serbia celebrated winning a spot in the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Championship in Japan by doing the “slant-eye” pose.
After defeating Poland’s volleyball team in a qualifier match over the weekend, they decided to pose for the photo with many of the players pulling their eyes back.
It appears that the players are doing the slant-eye gesture in excitement about traveling to Japan for the 2018 world championship, but it’s just plain racist and rude.
The picture was originally posted on the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) website before it was later taken down, according to Deadspin.
But this is the Internet and nothing is ever truly deleted.
And this isn’t the first time a professional sports team has pulled the “slant-eye” pose — the Spanish basketball team also took some heat in 2008 over their group photo.
Earlier this month, Argentinean footballer Ezequiel Lavezzi, who plays for the Chinese club Hebei China Fortune, was pictured with “slanted eyes” and received backlash on social media for the racist gesture.
