A journalist was thrown off a television show in Italy after racially abusing Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku live on air, with the Belgian on the verge of joining Roma.
The centre-forward had two different spells at Inter and is pushing for a return to Serie A, first for Juventus and now with negotiations for a loan experience with the Giallorossi.
This transfer was being discussed on Telelombardia – a local channel in the Lombardy region – by Inter supporter and journalist Luigi Furini.
He has been on the Qui Studio a Voi Stadio programme regularly since 2010, but was thrown off the show this evening after using a racist term to describe Lukaku live on air.
Furini tried to double down and insist it was a word used often in rap music, which only made matters worse and saw him excluded from the show.
This was also patently untrue, seeing as the term used was an Italian version with a specifically denigratory and belittling aspect.
Director of Telelombardia Fabio Ravezzani released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“When there are racist terms, you cannot mess around (regardless of their etymology). We do not accept this being a misunderstanding. And apologising far too late is not enough.
“It’s disappointing that a colleague like Furini should make such a serious error. Inevitably, there will be immediate action taken.”
It is not known if Furini has been fired or will simply be suspended.
Inter fans turned on Lukaku and called him a ‘traitor’ after holding talks with their arch-rivals Juventus this summer.
According to regular viewers of this show, Furini had been making vague allusions to Lukaku’s race for weeks, but this evening he finally let the mask drop.
He refused to apologise, there were several unexpected breaks for advertisements, and eventually he was no longer on the panel.
Lukaku sucks