Nobody is immune to that kind of oversight.  I doubt it's intentional, just clueless. 

One of my Singaporean students linked to a TV interview with an LA police spokesperson (also happened to be black) who said: the person might have been Chinese, [and then he proceeded to put his thumbs to his temples and pull his face skin back to make slit, angled eyes].  Not intentionally offensive, IMO, just ignorant.