Roberto Mancini defends children accused of racism for emulating Serie A top scorer Victor Osimhen during carnival week

Roberto Mancini, the manager of Italy, has come to the defense of some children who were accused of racism for painting their faces black in order to resemble Serie A top scorer Victor Osimhen during the carnival week in Naples, Italy.

Traditionally, during the carnival, both adults and children wear costumes, masks, and capes and dress up as one of their heroes. This year, several children chose to emulate Osimhen, who has scored 20 goals in 24 matches for Napoli this season.

A Napolitan writer of Nigerian origin, Sabrina Efionayi, criticized the parents for allowing their children to use blackface during the carnival, hitting out at Italian culture for the alleged racist act. She took to social media to express her disappointment, feeling that it was alarming that Italians do not understand why 'blacking up' is offensive.

Despite understanding the reason why the young fans wanted to dress up in such a way, Efionayi felt that Italians still have a long way to go in understanding why blackface is hurtful. She wrote on Facebook: 'Every time a player with black skin excels in a team (in this case, Napoli), I always feel this tremendous angst over how people think he should be celebrated. From the solidarity of Sorbillo to Koulibaly who painted his face black, to the children you painted brown in 'honour' of Osimhen for Carnival. Trust me, it is not celebrating him at all. It gives me goosebumps if you think it is showing solidarity, being amusing, or supportive of the Nigerian player.'

However, Mancini, a former coach of Manchester City who is currently managing the Italian National team, defended the parents and children, insisting that 'where some see racism, I see only wonder.' Mancini took to Instagram to post an image of young fans in their Osimhen outfits and hit back at Efionayi's criticism. He added, 'Sport is inclusion, and you kids are giants!'

In recent years, Italy's approach to racial sensitivity has been heavily criticized, particularly with regard to the popular television program 'Tale e Quale Show,' which has seen white celebrities use blackface to transform into iconic music artists and perform as them. Similarly, in 2019, after artwork for an anti-racism campaign included three paintings of monkeys, the Italian league, Serie A, received a lot of backlash.