FC Bayern Forum

Roma and Inter aren’t too pleased....
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Lukaku’s agent isn’t too happy...
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Firefox1234 wrote:

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He should use a spellchecker and grammar checker next time
To think this is his level of English after 8 years living there...

Also, I don't understand how this is considered racist. Is calling a black person black an insult? So if Bayern get 2 Italian players for example, and they combine well to win us the match and some newspaper headlines with "Italian Special", would that be considered racist?

MUTU wrote:

Firefox1234 wrote:

Can't see tweet? Click here!

He should use a spellchecker and grammar checker next time
To think this is his level of English after 8 years living there...

Also, I don't understand how this is considered racist. Is calling a black person black an insult? So if Bayern get 2 Italian players for example, and they combine well to win us the match and some newspaper headlines with "Italian Special", would that be considered racist?

Its all about context. Italian football and Italy are plagued with racist incidents against black people, yet their popular sporting paper uses the term "black" as a euphemism.

If your sister recently suffered a miscarriage or a fatal premature birth, would you try to cheer her up with a dead baby joke?

Firefox1234 wrote:

MUTU wrote:

Firefox1234 wrote:

Can't see tweet? Click here!

He should use a spellchecker and grammar checker next time
To think this is his level of English after 8 years living there...

Also, I don't understand how this is considered racist. Is calling a black person black an insult? So if Bayern get 2 Italian players for example, and they combine well to win us the match and some newspaper headlines with "Italian Special", would that be considered racist?

Its all about context. Italian football and Italy are plagued with racist incidents against black people, yet their popular sporting paper uses the term "black" as a euphemism.

If your sister recently suffered a miscarriage or a fatal premature birth, would you try to cheer her up with a dead baby joke?

WTF? What does a recent death of a baby (something that just happened) have to do with your skin colour (something you carried your whole life)? Sick comparison mate. Look if I go to Africa and I hear someone say "ask that white guy over there", I won't burst out crying and file a police report for racism.

ramsej84 wrote:the title was inappropriate ... however I can understand what they tried to do... they wanted to say something on the lines of 'Black power'

This is my understanding too. They are some of their key players after all.

Even after the explanation I simply cannot understand the outrage.

FCBayernMunchen wrote:

ramsej84 wrote:the title was inappropriate ... however I can understand what they tried to do... they wanted to say something on the lines of 'Black power'

This is my understanding too. They are some of their key players after all.

Even after the explanation I simply cannot understand the outrage.

MUTU wrote:WTF? What does a recent death of a baby (something that just happened) have to do with your skin colour (something you carried your whole life)? Sick comparison mate. Look if I go to Africa and I hear someone say "ask that white guy over there", I won't burst out crying and file a police report for racism.

Its about how the issue is perceived. To a black person the issue Italy has with racism is very serious, hence why Lukaku along with his agent, club Inter and even Roma denounced it. In Italy racism is very much a problem and can be seen from this article:

The same way you wouldn't want to make a dead baby joke after someone you know recently suffered a similar tragedy, you would not do the same about a "black" joke/euphemism if your society has a huge problem with racism. Its one of the reasons the use of "black face" is highly frowned upon in the United States because of its long history of being used to promote racism.

So, because racists exist in this world, we're not allowed to call a black man a black man, is that what you are saying?

Is it OK to say "that blonde girl" given you're differentiating by hair colour and that they make blonde jokes?

But is it really a joke? It's a pun but is it poking fun at anyone?

As an example: Malta has just as much of a problem with racism as Italy if not more, for exactly the same reasons. Yet it is common to hear at stadiums things like "Damn, their black guy is really good" or "What a stupid mistake by the black player". Are these racist phrases? Not really, in my opinion. They're just a way to refer to the player who often people might not know the name of.

If it were for example a joke involving depicting black people in a bad light or promoting violence or something I would agree but here it seems like the fuss is just on the use of the word 'black'.

FCBayernMunchen wrote:But is it really a joke? It's a pun but is it poking fun at anyone?

As an example: Malta has just as much of a problem with racism as Italy if not more, for exactly the same reasons. Yet it is common to hear at stadiums things like "Damn, their black guy is really good" or "What a stupid mistake by the black player". Are these racist phrases? Not really, in my opinion. They're just a way to refer to the player who often people might not know the name of.

If it were for example a joke involving depicting black people in a bad light or promoting violence or something I would agree but here it seems like the fuss is just on the use of the word 'black'.

MUTU wrote:So, because racists exist in this world, we're not allowed to call a black man a black man, is that what you are saying?

Is it OK to say "that blonde girl" given you're differentiating by hair colour and that they make blonde jokes?

No one is saying you can't call a black man "black" but the context the Italian newspaper was using it was as a euphemism/pun, during a time Italy is being heavily criticized for its racism towards black people. No one is saying you can't even make a black joke like no one ever really says you can't make a jew joke like "jews are bankers" but its about the context/time and place. If one goes to a holocaust museum do you think that is the proper place to be making jew jokes no matter how harmless it may seem?

The Italian newspaper was using the term "black" in "black friday" as a pun, as a "tongue in cheek" comment but it was/is misplaced because in Italy there are black people who are heavily being discriminated upon, so the term "black friday" was in poor taste. It simply was/is not the time or place to use the term "black" as a pun/"tongue in cheek" comment in Italy right now. It has nothing to do about the term "black" being offensive but how you use it.

If the term "black" is being used to identify/describe a person thats fine. However, to use the term "black" as a joke/pun/euphemism/"tongue in cheek" comment make sure you are in the right time in place or you risk offending someone.

I understand better what you mean now although still don't quite agree. Corriere dello Sport should have been more conscious in that they should have predicted the reaction given the current discussion in Italy, and therefore not published it, however I still don't quite see anything wrong with even in its context. Basically the mistake here is failure to predict the reaction rather than the thing published itself, in my view.