Romelu Lukaku, a striker for Serie A club Inter Milan in Italy, is the first Premier League player to sign with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports and has amassed fame for his exploits on the pitch. However, Romelu Lukaku, like many Black footballers before him, has endured racist taunts and Roc Nation Sports took out an ad in an Italian newspaper demanding they do better.
TMZ was the first to report on Roc Nation Sports taking out the ad in the Italian sports news daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport, which defended Romelu Lukaku and other Black footballers from the racist taunts from fans in attendance at matches.
On Tuesday (April 4), Inter Milan played against Juventus F.C. and fans in the stands made monkey noises toward Lukaku. The ad singles out how this practice has been allowed to endure for years during football (soccer) matches.
From the ad:
In professional football, Black players have been subjected to hatred during professional football games. The hatred 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.
Roc Nation Sports put out an accompanying video demanding that fans stop the racist taunts, clearly singling out that this has been an issue for years in the game.
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Photo: Mondadori Portfolio / Getty