Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes, a Mexican football fan, is seen in a screen capture from social media making a racist gesture targeting people of Asian descent during a 2026 FIFA World Cup match between Korea and the Czech Republic at Akron Stadium in Zapopan near Guadalajara, Mexico, June 11. Captured from Instagram
A Mexican football fan who made a racist gesture toward a Korean YouTuber during the Korea-Czech Republic match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup apologized amid widespread controversy.
Korean YouTuber Ino Cat, who has 6.6 million subscribers, posted a video Thursday from Akron Stadium in Zapopan near Guadalajara, Mexico, where she had watched the Group A opener between Korea and the Czech Republic. In the caption, she asked viewers, “Tell me if I'm just being too sensitive,” with the English caption “POV: When you experienced racism at the World Cup.”
The footage shows her taking a selfie and waving at the camera while, behind her, a Mexican man looks directly into the lens and pulls both eyes back with his index fingers — a gesture long recognized as insulting toward people of Asian descent.
The man in the video was later identified as Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes, president of an engineering association in the Mexican state of Jalisco. As the controversy grew, he posted a video apology over the weekend.
