Only in #Iran can wearing #SpongeBob pants get you banned from the national soccer team https://t.co/iX3ZmwxdSB pic.twitter.com/xoKarpEfyP
— Donya Jam (@FreeeIran) June 8, 2016
An image of Sosha Makani, a goalie for the Persepolis Football Club in Iran, circulated online last month and it pissed off his team administration so much, they’ve suspended him from the team.
In the photo, Makani is smiling and wearing “dotted yellow pants that showed his ankles” and were “too close to looking like ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ for the team’s liking.
A semi-official news agency in Iran is now reporting that the country’s football federation suspended the goalkeeper for those pants and a “series of other offenses.”
Of course, it’s not just SpongeBob’s fault. It’s America’s fault.
Athletes and celebrities in Iran have been targeted by hard-liners in the judiciary and elsewhere for what they wear and how they behave. Iranian hard-liners view much of Western culture as corrupt and un-Islamic.
Wait until they see his Squidward speedo.
[via Fox News]