It puts me in mind of the comment Julia made to Carol Vordermann at the Breast Cancer Care fashion show a couple of years ago. It wasn't the comment per se but the fact she couldn't stop herslf saying it (CV alluded to never having been on a shopping channel but JR pointed out she'd demonstrated a calculator years ago). It came across as petty in such a powerfully positive setting and I tend to think this Twitter comment, had it been said face to face between friends (not on a very public forum), I suspect both parties would have had a bit of banter and forgotten it almost instantly. Once something is written down or bradcast it's open to analysis to the Nth degree.
We're a footy family, hailing from Blackpool and Manchester we support Blackpool and City. When we moved Dahn Sahf we didn't suddenly become Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton or Man U fans. The boys also support a range of European clubs (loosely associated with cities we've visited...eg MrA and I had a mucky weekend in Barcelona years ago). If one of their European teams, say Inter Milan play a UK club, say Chelsea they'd be shouting for Inter...it's not a treasonable offence.
'Wonder whether Julia is cheering on Murray* at Wimbledon when she's here or Nadal when she's at her Spanish holiday home?
Jude xx
* suddenly British in the absence of an English competitor