Former Lazio, Juventus and Milan striker Paolo Di Canio has written to the President of the Italian Jewish Community to deny he’s an anti-Semite.
The former Sunderland manager was sacked by Sky Italia in September after his DUX – a reference to ‘Il Duce’, Benito Mussolini – tattoo was visible on screen.
Di Canio has been open about his Fascist views in the past, receiving a one-match ban for making a Fascist salute towards Lazio fans in 2005.
Former Lazio, Juventus and Milan striker Paolo Di Canio has written to the President of the Italian Jewish Community to deny he’s an anti-Semite.
The former Sunderland manager was sacked by Sky Italia in September after his DUX – a reference to ‘Il Duce’, Benito Mussolini – tattoo was visible on screen.
Di Canio has been open about his Fascist views in the past, receiving a one-match ban for making a Fascist salute towards Lazio fans in 2005.
“I’m writing because I’d like to, through you, send a message to the Jewish community you represent,” Di Canio wrote in a letter to Noemi Di Segni, head of the Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane.
“I know you are aware of my personal life, I don’t need to summarise it in this situation.
“Certainly in this time away from the public eye, I’ve felt deep bitterness to still be considered negatively for my past expressions and gestures and to be portrayed in a way I’m not.
“I want to find a way to clarify this situation once and for all. I must first of all think of my family, particularly my daughters who cannot see in the father that has taught them this figure who is portrayed as violent, racist and anti-Semitic.
“I have never been that, and I am not at all [those things].
“I feel the need then to go back to a topic which I have already been clear about in the past: I do not want anything to do with anti-Semitic, racist, discriminatory or violent ideas.
“No ifs or buts, the racial laws desired by Mussolini are a terrible shame in the history of our country, an outrage which caused personal tragedy for thousands of Jews in Italy. That’s my convinced and determined position.
“A few years ago I bowed my head when confronted by the pain of some survivors of Auschwitz who I got to know during a meeting in Rome.
“Being a public figure, I have to give an account of my feelings to give an awareness to young people of solidarity and respect; the need to unite, not divide; to be against all forms of hatred, anti-Semitism and racism.
“So much so, that I authorise you to make this letter public if you have the desire, and at the same time I express my willingness to meet you personally, to give voice to these thoughts.
“Perhaps, in that context, we may also find a symbolic way together to pay tribute to the memory of those who suffered.”