English Soccer Having Another Dumb Racist Twitter Thing

When a student was jailed for racist tweets directed at Fabrice Muamba, it was an opportunity to discuss the British justice system and the perils of online anonymity. When John Terry was cleared of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, it was an opportunity to quote a judge saying "cunt" about 72 times. Now here's something with Ashley Cole, and Rio Ferdinand, and "choc ice," and I really have no idea what's going on.

Let's try to catch up. Cole, Terry's Chelsea teammate, spoke on Terry's behalf at trial, saying he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. One fan took offense to that, tweeting: "looks like Ashley Cole's going to be their choc ice. Then again he's always been a sellout. Shame on him." (A "choc ice" is, apparently, the British equivalent of an "oreo"—a black guy who acts white Urban Dictionary has that as one of three definitions, sandwiched between two other very gross ones.)

Multiple complaints were lodged, and police are investigating whether the tweeter committed a crime. That would be story enough, but Rio Ferdinand to go get involved. Ferdinand, whose brother was the target of Terry's alleged abuse, replied to the original tweeter "I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahahha!!"

Ferdinand backpedaled, saying "What I said yesterday is not a racist term. It's a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there." Which solves precisely nothing.