Mario Balotelli shared an image on Monday evening on Instagram featuring the Nintendo character Mario that included the words "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."
Balotelli deleted the post and apologized, describing it as an "unlucky moment," and added that his own adopted mother is Jewish in follow-up posts on Twitter.
The FA confirmed to ESPN that it is investigating whether to charge Balotelli for bringing "the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race."
The player himself tweeted an apology for his actions on Tuesday morning which read: "I apologize if I've offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour. I now understand that out of context may have had the opposite effect.
"Not all Mexicans have moustache, not all black people jump high and not all Jewish people love money. I used a cartoon done by someone else because it has Super Mario and I thought it was funny and not offensive. Again, I'm sorry."
Via ESPN