Roc Nation is blasting Italian soccer fans for their racist behavior in a full ad published in Italy’s La Gazzetta Sport after Tuesday’s incident in which Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku was subjected to monkey chants during a game.
Lukaku was subjected to the most recent racial attack after scoring a game-tying penalty in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw in the Italian Cup quarterfinals.
“Dear Italy,” the ad began, “Do better. Want better. Be better.
“In professional football, Black players have been subjected to hatred during professional football games. The hated has displayed itself in the form of monkey chants, racial slurs and banana peels tossed at the best players in the world, as the world watches, as the children watch, as the players’ families watch.
“No one has faced any consequences for this heinous behavior. Nothing has changed. No action has been taken.
“In fact, the only person that could be held accountable is a player, if they react to this disgusting behavior during a game.
“Enough is enough.
“Hatred equals racism equals ignorance.
“In a game that unites people all over the world as fans, we should only witness the best of humanity. There is no circumstances where racism is tolerated. Italy is better than this. We are all better than this.
“We all on the worldwide community of sports – players, team owners, artists, brands and all fans – to denounce this racist behavior and hold bigots accountable to a human standard. One which upholds decency, respect and compassion and others.
“The first team is the human team. Let’s work together to cut racism out of the game. For good.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Lukaku has experienced racist attacks. Back in 2019, he was targeted by another group of racist fans.
