Italian soccer team Juventus and player draw backlash for slant-eye picture tweet

August 6, 2021

Italian soccer team Juventus apologized for the photo depicting a racist gesture that it tweeted out on the women’s team’s Twitter on Thursday.

What happened: The team posted a picture showing Cecilia Salvai with a slant-eye gesture while wearing a training cone on her head, mimicking what appears to be a cone hat, ESPN reported.

For anybody wondering: pic.twitter.com/VsvEgxit6u

— Yuna (@YunaYuuuuna69) August 6, 2021

Juventus received backlash for the racist photo and later took down the post from its social media.

The aftermath: Hours later, Juventus offered an apology on Twitter saying the post “was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones.”

We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone. Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination. #DifferencesMakeTheDifference

— Juventus Women (@JuventusFCWomen) August 5, 2021

The team followed up its previous post with a longer apology on its official website.

Juventus would like to express our deepest apologies for the social post that read as racially discriminatory content on the Juventus Women’s Football Twitter account yesterday.https://t.co/8A4jOtGy71 pic.twitter.com/QAjkX43QdR

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 6, 2021

“Juventus immediately realized that the Club had committed an unforgivable mistake, and this mistake has seriously hurt the feelings of all people who oppose racial discrimination,” Juventus said in their statement.
“For such a mistake, the Club assumes full responsibility for the occurrence of the incident and its serious impact,” they added. “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.”
The team told CNN it also plans to make a “thorough review to prevent similar things from happening again.”

Featured Image via Juventus

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