Photo: Screenshot of deleted tweet.
‘Unforgivable mistake’: Juventus apologises for racist photo
“Juventus immediately realised that the Club had committed an unforgivable mistake,” said the club after an offensive social media post on Thursday.
Photo: Screenshot of deleted tweet.
Juventus issued an apology after its women’s football team posted a photograph of one of their players, Cecilia Salvai, making an offensive eye gesture on Thursday, 5 August. The offensive tweet stayed up for approximately 25 minutes and was widely criticised and accused of “blatant racism.” Juventus issued another, longer, apology via its website on Friday.
JUVENTUS APOLOGISES FOR ‘UNFORGIVABLE MISTAKE’
On Friday, the Italian football club “expressed their deepest apologies” for the social media post that showed a photograph of Salvai using her fingers to narrow her eyes while wearing a red training cone on her head as a hat. The post was distastefully captioned by emojis that mimicked the player’s pose.
The post received thousands of replies before it was deleted. “We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone,” said the club in the initial apology tweet. “Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination.”
The photograph of Salvai was taken during a training session in Barcelona, where Juventus’ women’s team will play FC Barcelona in the Joan Gamper preseason tournament at the weekend.
Juventus referred to the post as “an unforgivable mistake” that has seriously hurt the feelings of all people who oppose racial discrimination.
“For such a mistake, the Club assumes full responsibility for the occurrence of the incident and its serious impact.
“Opposing racial discrimination and supporting the common development of multiple cultures are the principles that Juventus as a Club has always adhered to and continues to put into practice,” said the club.
Later on Thursday evening, US team Orlando Pride seemingly responded to the Italian side by posting a photograph of England forward Jodie Taylor wearing a top with the slogan “Stop Asian Hate,” according to The Guardian.
