Serie A, Italy’s top football league, has recently found itself in hot water after unveiling its new anti-racism campaign, featuring paintings of “Western”, “Asian”, and “black” monkeys.
The three images that are now hanging at the division’s headquarters in Milan were created by Simone Fugazzotto, an artist known for depicting monkeys in various settings. The painter said that his works were intended to show that “we are all the same race” and that “the colour of our skin is not important”.
“With this trio of paintings I would like to show that we are all the same race”, Fugazzotto said, according to the league’s website. “In fact when Lega Serie A commissioned a work against racism last May I immediately thought to paint a western monkey, an Asian [sic] monkey and a black monkey, because I would like to change people's perceptions by my work”.
“My paintings fully reflects [sic] the values of fair play and tolerance, I use monkeys as a metaphor for human beings because the colour of our skin is not important”, the artist added.
Although, Serie A’s CEO Luigi De Siervo said that the paintings were intended to “fight any form of prejudice” in relation to the “endemic and complex problem” of racism, the campaign has received a very strong and largely negative response from the public.
The club A.S. Roma said that it was “surprised” by the campaign, noting that monkey paintings were not the best way to address the problem of intolerance in the country, where Brescia’s striker Mario Balotelli and Inter Milan’s footballer Romelu Lukaku have recently been subjected to racist remarks.
This view was echoed by former Norwegian footballer and ex Sheffield United star Jan Age Fjortoft, who said that there was something “wrong” with the masterminds behind the campaign.
Some users found the campaign to be a highly insensitive “joke”.
The club reportedly responded to the row by saying that true art is always a “provocation”.