(JTA) — British soccer player Mario Balotelli, who grew up the foster son of a Jewish mother, was charged by the British Football Association for a racist and anti-Semitic post on his Instagram page.

The Football Association, or FA, on Friday charged Balotelli, 24, who plays for the Liverpool team, with breaching a league rule which bars social media posts which are “abusive and/or insulting and/or improper.” Additionally, the posting was called by the league: “an ‘Aggravated Breach’ as defined by FA Rule E3[2] as it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or color and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief.”

Balotelli on Dec. 2 apologized on Twitter for the post, which featured a photo of Nintendo computer game character Super Mario and read, in part, that the character “jumps like a Black man and grabs coins like a Jew.”

Balotelli is nicknamed Super Mario. He is the son of immigrants from Ghana.

The rest of the Super Mario post reads: “Don’t be racist. Be like Mario. He’s an Italian plumber, created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican.”

Balotelli’s apology tweet said in part, “I apologize if I’ve offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humor. I now understand that out of context it may have the opposite effect.”

Following criticism of the post, Balotelli responded with a tweet that said, “My Mom is jewish so all of u shut up please.”

Jewish leaders in Britain criticized the Super Mario post as anti-Semitic and racist.

Balotelli has until Dec. 15 to respond to the FA’s charges.