The son of German former tennis star Boris Becker is planning legal action against a far-right member of the nation's parliament who called him a "little half-negro" on Twitter, according to a media report on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Noah Becker decided to take the step after speaking with his father, the daily Bild reported. Becker's mother has an African-American father and a German mother.
Becker family lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser told the newspaper that he had been asked to take legal action "over the clearly racist" tweet from Jens Maier, who is a Bundestag member of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Maier had attacked Noah Becker after a magazine interview in which he complained about being the "eternal son" of a famous father and claimed he had been attacked in Berlin because of his skin colour.
"It seems the little half-negro simply got too little attention - that's the only explanation for his behaviour," said the tweet posted by Maier on Tuesday. The tweet was later deleted.
Maier claimed that a member of his staff has sent out the tweet, prompting another AfD lawmaker to call on him to step aside if he did not have his employees under control.
Maier's tweet marks the second time this week that an AfD lawmaker has faced charges for their remarks on social media.
German police on Tuesday filed a complaint against Beatrix von Storch following a tweet from the Bundestag deputy which they say violated racial incitement laws after she criticised police in the western city of Cologne for sending a New Year's Twitter message in Arabic.
The legal action came after a new anti-hate speech law went into force in Germany on January 1.