Corriere dello Sport editor Ivan Zazzaroni defended his ‘Black Friday’ headline after Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling complaints. “Someone tell me, what’s racist about this?”
The front page of the national sports paper has made headlines itself all over the world due to its crass insensitivity and racist connotations.
Corriere dello Sport editor Ivan Zazzaroni defended his ‘Black Friday’ headline after Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling complaints. “Someone tell me, what’s racist about this?”
The front page of the national sports paper has made headlines itself all over the world due to its crass insensitivity and racist connotations.
Milan and Roma have banned the Corriere dello Sport from their training facilities or interviews with players for the rest of December.
However, Zazzaroni continues to double down and spoke to Radio 24 about the situation.
“Someone please tell me, what’s racist about this headline? Do you know how many similar headlines I’ve done over the last 40 years? Why do I have to explain myself to the Internet?
“Having Lukaku and Smalling on the front page is a strong message, they are two great players, they were both at Manchester United, while Black Friday is everywhere right now because of the sales. So why not use it?
“If people want to battle racism, they need to look elsewhere at serious issues. This headline, as explained and clarified, cannot be called racist.
“Those who say that monkey noises in a stadium are not racist, those are the people who are shameful. This is just a headline that fits in with the context.
“If we continue to stall everything to aid some false moralism, then nobody can write anything anymore.”
The radio conversation was recorded before Roma and Milan announced they were banning the Corriere dello Sport for one month.
“I received a few phone calls from the Lega Serie A, a few clubs, they sent around messages in chatrooms, like: ‘What shall we do now? Do we all join together in attacking this paper?’
“They didn’t read the article, they didn’t understand it, the truth is they’ve done nothing for decades and just want to wash their consciences clean.
“I am happy to have chosen this headline.”