After Netherlands kicked Mexico out of the Round of 16 with a pair of last-minute goals Sunday afternoon, Royal Dutch Airlines celebrated by tweeting "Adios Amigos! #NEDMEX" with a photo of an airport departures gate featuring a drawing of a man wearing a sombrero. Fans did not take kindly to the tweet and were quick to call it "racist" and a poor attempt at "trolling." Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal tweeted a profanity-laden response, saying he would never fly the carrier again.
The airline deleted the tweet without comment less than an hour later. It has yet to issue a public apology, but has responded to at least one complaint saying, "It has not been our intent to hurt anyone's feelings with this tweet... That's why we removed it." Mexican airline Aeroméxico handled the flap by tweeting a photo of an arrivals sign and writing in Spanish that it was proud of the team.
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