Incoming Valencia boss Gennaro Gattuso is once again under the spotlight for discriminatory comments made in the past.
And, once again, rather than acknowledge and address the issue, he is attacking those who are highlighting them.
Before the season started, Gattuso was briefly linked with the then vacant Tottenham Hotspur manage role – but his candidacy was thrown out almost immediately after racist, sexist and homophobic comments he made in the past came to light.
Speaking in 2008, Gattuso said: “In-church, marriage should be between a man and a woman, even if this is 2008 and everyone can do as they please.
“I am someone who has believed in the institution of family since I was a small child and for someone who believes in their religion this [same-sex marriage] is very strange.”
In 2013, when then Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch after suffering racist abuse, Gattuso was unimpressed and leapt to the defence of supporters. Speaking at the time, he said: “I’ve lived five kilometres away from Busto Arsizio for years and that area is full of foreigners.
“There are no racists in Busto. What happened yesterday was the fault of a group of imbeciles. How many times have there been boos against white players in the past? It’s happened to me to, but I didn’t give it any importance.
“Boateng certainly felt he was offended, but I continue to not see it as racism. It just seems to be the latest episode of collective idiocy from a minority.”
Later that year, when Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani agreed to share his role with owner Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter, Barbara, Gattuso suggested women should not have a place in football.
He told an Italian radio station: “For someone like Galliani there should be more respect. I can’t really see women in football. I don’t like to say it but that’s how it is.”
Gattuso made these comments. They haven’t been invented, yet he has so far refused to accept any responsibility for their existence and simply moved the blame onto those who are highlighting them now.
Following the negative reaction in the summer, the former Milan midfielder simply denied he is racist, sexist or homophobic. He told Il Messaggero: “I had to accept a story that hurt me more than any defeat or suspension.”
In doing so, he took the road of making himself the victim. More so even than the people offended by his comments.
Again, this summer, the comments resurfaced with his appointment as Valencia’s new manager imminent and he laughably used the signing Tiemoue Bakayoko while at Napoli as a defence for those calling him racist.
It just proves how little he understands the issue and with every comment attacking those who are highlighting and criticising his past comments, he emphasises his own ignorance.
Gattuso’s initial comments were highly offensive towards which communities which are frequently discriminated against – especially within football.
It could be that they are the only times in his life he has ever made any offensive comments. Certainly in public. But he did make them. And he needs to take responsibility for that rather than ignore the evidence and focus on other, irrelevant examples of when he has done things he believes show he isn’t racist.
Until he acknowledges his actions and addresses the issue, he is rightly going to face this type of scrutiny whenever he is in front of the media.
Are they hiring him as a PR manager or a football coach?
Ridiculous. What should he acknowledge? That he does not have a right to his opinion? Oh, the poor offended souls. How will they be able to struggle on knowing such horrible monsters as Gattuso are freely walking around and even expressing opinions! The horror!
welp, this article really is attacking Gattuso.. I don’t even know why these kind of article can be posted here.. clearly Gattuso has his own opinions and views, more so in these era where all of you hailing to the freedom of speech.
He has a right to express his opinion and stand by it.
Quite ironic how you portray Gattuso as intolerable for holding different views to yourselves.
Small sidenote: I don’t necessarily agree with what Gattuso has said, but I am simply defending his right to say them.
So he is religious…so what? He didnt write the bible, he is just talking about what is in it.
I dont see it as ignorant. He is expressing his opinion. We need tolerance from both ends.
Sadly these comments are exactly what you expect under a footballitalia article. Gattuso is just “expressing his opinion”. Ya, well so is everybody else. And if its the opinion of owners, players, or supporters that they don’t want Gattuso working for them because of his opinions, that’s their freedom too. What does it have to do with football? If you’re a black player, are you gonna give your heart and soul for a coach who doesn’t have your back when you’re racially abused by the crowd? Or will you want to work with somebody who doesn’t respect your wife/partner, thinking they are not equals in the world of sport? Or maybe you or someone in your family experiences abuse at being LBGTQ daily and now you’re expected to hear more of that hurtful garbage from your manager? That’s not a good team environment. The best managers know how to create a family in the locker room and if Gattuso is refusing to accept responsibility for his divisive comments then he can expect that he will continue to fail to accomplish that. Freedom comes with responsibility, and what you say has consequences. Deal with it. Grow up.
Andrew Cesare Richardson stick to writing about women soccer because you have NO clue about the man or the league. You must be an interinsta…
The typical brain dead responses from a few racists in here. Go away back to your caves, the modern world is not for the likes of you.
Suprise Suprise, Italians defending a racist Italian. I’m not surprised by the comments above, but it says a lot about your country.
rino’s comments are very normal. valencia fans are using him as a scapegoat to attack peter lim. typical bias in woke media, FI isn’t what it used to be.
Let he without sin cast the first stone
Is Gattuso wrong? Isn’t marriage a ceremony that takes place in a church, between a man and a woman? Haven’t white players been boo’d every game of football that has ever been played, without anyone ascribing the reason to racism?
We need to be very careful about how we proceed here. Are we really going to blackball people for saying things that were completely normal and traditional views, just 20 years ago?
Racism is bad. But generalizing all Italians as racist is good.
LOL people don’t even have two brain cells left any more, do they?
Carl, it says a lot about your country, after the racist abuse your English black players received after the Euro final and their constant booing of foreign national anthems. Sort your racism out before commenting on other countries.
Enough of this crap. The man is salt of the earth. These accusations are ridiculous.
People seems to have problem with everything these days.
I stand with Gattuso
The man can’t have opinions now?
You have to understand that conservative people exist and it’s not generally agreed that being ultra-liberal in everything is the standard nowadays. Is it good for Gattuso? I don’t know, he might be limiting his coaching possibilities. Is it your business? No.
This is not ignorance, it’s the choice of expression.
There is nothing offensive about Gattuso’s comments. If you’re offended, that’s on you. Hundreds of millions of people share Gattuso’s views. The progressive pearl-clutchers do not own a monopoly on virtue and indeed many of their beliefs are poisonous and destructive. More importantly, football is being used more and more as a political tool by activist groups and regime boot-lickers. Credit to Gattuso for speaking his mind instead of reading off a PR approved script.
@ PrimoCalcio So you support the right of employers to refuse people jobs or sack people for expressing a view? So if I worked for an oil company and criticised my employer for its stance on climate change, you’d support their right to sack me?
Increasingly free speech is policed through private laws and sponsors which actually gives more power, not less, to conservative and privileged voices. Look at the use of NDAs.
Attempts to silence people also backfire by turning them into martyrs. It’s what indirectly lead to Trump and Brexit. Thousands of years of history have taught us that a sense of persecution actually entrenches views.
We need to return to a time when people were judged for the actions not their words. A time when Guns N Roses could take the same stage as Elton John despite writing songs with homophobic lyrics. They’re just words. Words never harmed anyone.
It’s kinda ironic that a Calabrese who’s own heritage is often generalised as being dirty, criminal and undesirable is being labelled a racist.
@Maldinis heir,
You are right on everything apart from the Ultra Maga King and Brexit. Go woke, go broke leads to what progress exactly? A virtue signal does not put food on the table. Is it good to see a percentage of sheep are seeing the light. The world was better off under DT, and my gas was $2.19 per gallon, but the wokesters could not handle a few mean tweets. This is why I respect the Asians a great deal, as they do not get involved in woke idealogy, that does not improve their lives.
Under the Ultra Maga King, my gas was $2.19 a gallon.
FJB it is 4.89 in my state. But there are no mean tweets, just a senial world puppet and virtual signals.
Great progress wokeristas!
So I am ignorant as well because I believe marriage is for man and woman. That won’t make me disrespect those who believe otherwise but do extend the courtesy not to disrespect me (and Gatusso) as well.
Carl you read 6 comments and this authorizes you to express a negative opinion on an entire Country of 60 million inhabitants.
Who is racist?
I’m not talking about your Country, I’m talking about you: Carl you are personally a racist. Can you understand this?
Cammina.
@LORD ALLEGRI 💯
Keep speaking common sense and truth.👍
Andrew, you are a pathetic, soft person for caring about this.