AN ITALIAN SPORTS programme has suspended pundit Luciano Passirani after he made a racist remark on air about Inter striker Romelu Lukaku.
Passirani made the comment on TopCalcio24 on Sunday while praising Lukaku’s performances for Inter this season after the Nerazzurri earned a third win from as many Serie A games by beating Udinese 1-0.
A clip was subsequently shared on social media and Passirani has now been banned from appearing on the show.
“Mr Passirani is 80 years old and to compliment Lukaku he used a metaphor that turned out to be racist,” programme director Fabio Ravezzani, who also confirmed Passirani had apologised, stated.
“I think it was a terrible lack of momentary lucidity. I cannot tolerate any kind of errors, even if momentary.”
Lukaku made the switch to Inter from Manchester United in the August and has scored twice in three Serie A outings thus far.
Lukaku was the target of abuse in Inter’s win over Cagliari last month.
"The only way to stop him is to say, here are ten bananas that you can eat."
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) September 16, 2019
A pundit on Italian TV was immediately suspended following racist comments he made on-air regarding Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku...
Monkey chants could be heard as the Belgium striker converted a penalty in the 2-1 win, with Lukaku posting on Instagram afterwards: “Football is a game to be enjoyed and we shouldn’t accept any form of discrimination that will put our game in shame.
“Ladies and gentlemen it’s 2019 – instead of going forwards we’re going backwards.”
Former Ireland performance analyst and current coaching wizard of OZ Eoin Toolan joins Murray Kinsella and Gavan Casey to predict Ireland’s World Cup, break down every pool, and call the overall winners.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
