Argentina's president posts racist Chinese tweet

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
(Image credit: Handout/Getty Images)

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is in the midst of a blockbuster controversy back home surrounding the mysterious death of a prosecutor who may have been seeking her arrest, only added to her troubles on Wednesday, posting a racist tweet making fun of the Chinese during a state visit to China.

Referring to the Chinese businessmen attending a conference where she had been invited to speak, it reads, "Did they only come for lice and petloleum?" Get it? The r's and l's are mixed up because Asian people.

She later tweeted, "Sorry, the levels of ridiculousness and absurdity are so high they can only be digested with humor."

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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.