AC Milan have announced that they have officially banned newspaper il Corriere dello Sport until the end of the calendar year.
The Rome-based outlet have come under fire for their Thursday edition which shows Inter striker Romelu Lukaku and Roma defender Chris Smalling, along with the title ‘Black Friday’.
The paper have tried to use the angle that it will be a battle of the two ex Manchester United players (Smalling is on loan from the Red Devils) and that it in fact presents an anti-racist sentiment, however that has not stopped social media outrage.
Milan issued their own response to the paper earlier in the day on Twitter, stating: “It is totally unacceptable to see such casual ignorance on racism. We will not stay silent on this issue,” along with the hashtag #togetheragainstracism.
Now, the club have gone a step further by announcing that both they and Roma have decided to ban the outlet until January.
A statement on the club’s official website reads: ‘We believe that players, clubs, supporters and the media must be united in the fight against racism in football and we all have a responsibility to be very precise in the words we choose and the messages we deliver.
‘In response to the ‘Black Friday’ headline published today by the newspaper, Milan and Roma have decided to ban Corriere dello Sport from our training facilities for the rest of the year and our players will not carry out any media activities with the newspaper during this period.
‘Both clubs are aware that the actual newspaper article associated with the ‘Black Friday’ headline did portray an anti-racist message and for this reason, we have only banned Corriere dello Sport until January.
‘We remain totally committed to tackling racism.’
Following the publication today of the front page headline ‘Black Friday’ accompanied by a picture of Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku, #ACMilan and @ASRomaEN have issued an immediate ban to the "Corriere dello Sport".
Full statement 👇🏻https://t.co/0KrCNGEWRC— AC Milan (@acmilan) December 5, 2019
