Dutch international football player Eljero Elia has apologised for using the phrase ‘cancer Moroccan’ while playing a football computer game live on internet.

‘I wish to apologise to the entire Moroccan community,’ Elia said. ‘I have many Moroccan friends… I wish I could take back my words but I can’t. I also apologise to everyone who collects money for cancer charities, sick people and their families.’
Elia made the comment to a close friend, who happens to be Moroccan and often calls him ‘negro’, the player said. ‘It might sound odd, but this is the street. This is how we speak to each other. But I should have been aware of my role as an example to others,’ he is quoted as saying in the Telegraaf.
In the Netherlands, cancer and other fatal diseases such as typhoid and cholera are often used as an insult.