Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci is in hot waters after putting some of the blame on Moise Kean for the racism he experienced at Cagliari.
After fans started to make monkey chants and jeers at Moise Kean, the young striker went on the score the winning goal.
He celebrated by holding his arms open and looking at the Cagliari fans. They responded by turning up the racist chants.
This type of behaviour has become frequent in Seria A but it often goes overlooked.
After game, journalists asked Bonucci about the racial abuse.
The Juventus man went on to embarrass himself by placing half of the blame on Kean.
His exact words were “”There were racist jeers after the goal, Blaise [Matuidi] heard it and was angered. I think the blame is 50-50, because Moise shouldn’t have celebrated like that, and the Curva (stand) should not have reacted that way.”
This sort of nonsense is why racism continues to thrive in the Italian league.
This is also hypocritical from the man who is known for doing his “wash out your mouth celebration”.
The idea that celebrating a goal in a certain manner puts you at fault for racism is ludicrous and Bonucci should be ashamed himself.
Other players like Raheem Sterling and Mario Balotelli have already called out Bonucci for his statements.
He has now come out and backtracked on his original statement.
His Instagram statement said “After 24 hours I want to clarify my feelings. Yesterday I was interviewed right at the end of the game, and my words have been clearly misunderstood, probably because I was too hasty in the way I expressed my thoughts.”
“Hours and years wouldn’t be enough to talk about this topic
In other words he said what he truly felt initially, but now that his PR guys have spoken to him he wants to clear things up so his image isn’t hurt.
This man is supposed to be the Captain of the team.
He should be sheltering his young teammate but instead he helps to bash him even further.
Everyone looks bad in this incident, Cagliari, Juventus, Italian media etc.
Their attitude shows why this type of behaviour can continue for so long.
Moise Kean has a bright future ahead of him but there is the risk that he might be derailed purely for the fact that he is black man.
