Racist, stupid headline gets panned

ITALIAN sports daily Corriere dello

Sport has been condemned by antiracism group Fare for using the headline “Black Friday” along with a picture of players Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku to preview today’s match between Inter Milan and AS Roma.

The match will see former Manchester United teammates Smalling and Lukaku on opposite sides.

The headline, in English, was posted in bold letters on the newspaper’s front page along with a picture of the two black players.

It drew criticism from Fare which retweeted the headline under the comment: “The media fuels racism every day. This is today’s edition of Corriere dello Sport.”

In reply, the newspaper stood by its headline which it described as “innocent”.

“‘Black Friday’, for those who want and can understand it, was and is only the praise of difference, the pride of difference, the magnificent richness of difference,” it said in a message posted on its website. “An innocent title ... is transformed into poison by those who have the poison inside.”

Italian football has been plagued by racism and Lukaku himself was a victim when the Belgium forward was insulted with monkey chants when he went to take a penalty for Inter Milan during a Serie A match at Cagliari.

A veteran Italian pundit was dropped from one of the country’s Sunday night round table programmes in September after suggesting Lukaku could only be stopped by giving him bananas to eat.

Last week, all 20 Serie A clubs signed an open letter saying Italian football had to do more to fight racism.

| Reuters