Rail worker panned for ‘negro ball’ gaffe

A number of passengers complained about the loudspeaker reference to a small, spherical, coconut-covered cake more commonly referred to in modern times as a ‘chocolate ball’.

“It wasn’t particularly smart, or correct,” said Ulf Wallin, spokesman for rail operator SJ.

The announcement was made on the X2000 fast train from Gothenburg to Stockholm.

Sweden’s Discrimination Ombudsman classified the word ‘negerboll’ as inappropriate in a 2005 ruling against a bakery in Sjöbo in southern Sweden, arguing the term was redolent of racism and slavery.