The official Twitter accounts of government entities commenting on whether or not fictional characters are gay isn’t commonplace. That’s why the Colombian government tweeting it hopesLuigiis gay came as quite a surprise. The tweet was deleted pretty quickly for a number of reasons, but screenshots circulating online have forced the account’s hand, as it has since apologized.The tweet was in response to another commenting onMariobeing heterosexual, seemingly using the plumber’s endless attempts to rescue Peach from castles as evidence of that.MinInterior Colombiareplied with a tweet stating it hopes Luigi is gay. While that alone is a strange enough tweet from a government account, the reply was problematic for another reason.RELATED:Luigi’s Mansion Should Be The Blueprint For Future Mario GamesSomeone with the keys to the MinInterior Colombia Twitter account hoping Luigi is gay isn’t what lit a fire under most people. That alone, again while odd due to the source, is an innocent enough hope to hold. It’s the wording of the tweet where the problem really arises. As explained byKotaku, the word marica, which is the one the deleted tweet used, is considered a slur by many Spanish-speaking people.
That’s where the wording of MinInterior Colombia’s apology comes in. It’s more an apology for the use of the slur rather than its hope that Luigi is gay. “We know it wasn’t the words, but we are aware that homophobia kills. That is why we are in favor of all initiatives that make the LGBTIQ+ population visible and we work so that their rights are guaranteed,” the apology reads.
While marica can apparently be used as an alternative to dude or bro, it is more commonly used as slang to make fun of feminine men. As for how such a tweet wound up being published in such an official government capacity, that may well be down to the community manager on duty at the time. Again according to Kotaku, the hashtag at the end of the apology loosely translates to “save a community manager”. Potentially pointing to the person who posted it not realizing that they weren’t signed into their personal account at the time.
If that is how it went down, what exactly happens next to said employee may depend on how they were using the word that warranted an apology from the Colombian government.
With this in mind, it’s been a pretty chaotic few days for Mario in South America. Not only has the Colombian government been tweeting about its hopes for Luigi and his sexuality, butThe Super Mario Bros. Movie was shown in full on Argentinian TV.
