Did Raheem Sterling shoot himself in the foot with a big new tattoo of an assault rifle on his leg for all the TV cameras to see?
There have been calls for the 23-year-old Manchester City and England forward to be dropped from the Three Lions squad amid widespread criticism for the tattoo of an M16 assault rifle which he recently had inked on his right calf, the Bleacher Report noted.
Sterling first revealed the new tattoo in a photo posted to Instagram, showing him training with his squad.
The image has been called "sickening" and "totally unacceptable."
"This tattoo is disgusting," said Lucy Cope, founder of the Mothers Against Guns group, the BBC News reported. "We demand he has the tattoo lasered off or covered up with a different tattoo. If he refuses he should be dropped from the England team. He's supposed to be a role model but chooses to glamorize guns."
Sterling, however, has been defending the tattoo, claiming the image was still unfinished and had a "deeper meaning" related to the death of his father when Sterling was just a 2-year-old boy.
The footballer explained in a post to Instagram – to which The Press Association's Simon Peach replied on Twitter – that his father was gunned down when he was a tot, and since then he promised he would never touch a gun in his life.
"I shoot with my right foot," he explained.
Others have defended Sterling, including former England forward Gary Lineker, who described the athlete as a "terrific footballer with a brilliant work ethic."
The U.S. Army has clamped down on soldiers sporting tattoos that are deemed sexist, racist, or extremist, and has implemented a policy requiring that they be removed.
The rules require tattooed soldiers to sit down with their unit commanders and "self-identify" each tattoo, describing the nature of each marking so as to ensure that they do not violate the Army's ban.
If the tattoo – no matter where it is on the body – is considered to be a violation, the soldier is required to have it removed at his or her own expense.
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