Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand defends ‘choc ice’ tweet levelled at Chelsea’s Ashley Cole
Rio Ferdinand has defended his response to a tweet which referred to Ashley Cole as a “choc ice”, insisting it was not a racist term.
Instead, the Manchester United defender said the term was slang for “someone who is being fake”.
Ferdinand laughingly reacted on Twitter last night after one person sent a tweet to him accusing Cole, who was a defence witness in the John Terry racism trial, of being a “choc ice”.
The term is commonly understood to mean “black on the outside, white on the inside”.
Ferdinand replied: “I hear you fella! “Choc ice is classic! hahahahahahha!!”
Users began discussing the comments and reacting to them and Ferdinand wrote: “And if I want to laugh at something someone tweets….I will! Hahahahaha! Now stop getting ya knickers in a twist!”
Ferdinand’s initial comment has now been deleted from his Twitter account, but the 33-year-old did speak about the issue this morning.
He tweeted: “What I said yesterday is not a racist term. Its a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there.”
Last night’s comments reignited the Terry racism row, a day after the Chelsea defender was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.