Italian football pundit Luciano Passirani has been banned from appearing on television show Qui Studio a Voi Stadio after he aimed racist comments at Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku on air.
Passirani said Lukaku – who joined Inter from Manchester United this summer – will “[kill] you” if you go one-on-one against him. He then added that the only way you can stop Lukaku is if you give the player “10 bananas to eat.”
“Lukaku is one of the best signings that Inter could have made. I don’t see another player like him on any other team in Italy. He is one of the strongest, I like him a lot because he has that strength: he is the twin of (Duvan) Zapata at Atalanta.
“They have something extra that the rest don’t have, and then they score the goals and drag your team forward. This guy kills you in the one-on-ones, if you try to challenge him you wind up on the floor. Either you have 10 bananas to eat, that you give to him, or…”
Fabio Ravezzani, programme director for the Telelombardia network, turned down Passirani’s swift apology and said the pundit wouldn’t participate in future broadcasts of the programme.
“Mr Passirani is 80 years old and to compliment Lukaku he used a metaphor that turned out to be racist. I think it was a terrible lack of momentary lucidity. I cannot tolerate any kind of errors, even if momentary,” he said. Lukaku was the target of monkey chants from Cagliari fans when he scored a 2-1 penalty winner on September 1, and Passirani’s comment was a reminder of the abuse Lukaku suffered.
The remark appears to be an attempted compliment regarding the strong form of Lukaku -who scored twice in his first two games for Inter – but has instead perpetuated ongoing concerns with racism in Italian football.
Photo Credit: Getty
