Reporter Fired after Racist Comment towards Inter Milan's Lukaku

An Italian television station says it will not use one of its reporters again after he made a racist comment about Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku.

Reporter Luciano Passirani,  Speaking on TopCalcio24, said: "If you go one-on-one with him he will murder you. "The only way to come up against him is maybe give him 10 bananas to eat..."

Programme director Fabio Ravezzani said, despite Passirani's "immediate apologies" that "he could no longer participate in our broadcasts".

"Mr Passirani is 80 years old and to compliment Lukaku he used a metaphor that turned out to be racist," added Ravezzani. "I think it was a terrible lack of momentary lucidity. "I cannot tolerate any kind of errors, even if momentary."

Lukaku, who moved from Manchester United to Inter in the summer, helped his side to a 1-0 win against Udinese on Saturday. The Belgian international often complained about receiving racial slurs in Italy ever since his move from England.

The Belgian forward was recently subjected to monkey chants by Cagliari fans when he scored a penalty for his side in a 2-1 victory. Afterwards, the Belgium international said the abuse showed the game was "going backwards".

Lukaku joined Italian club Inter Milan on 8 August 2019, signing a five-year contract for a fee reported to be a club record €80 million. He made his debut on 26 August in the opening Serie A matchday against Lecce, netting his side's third goal with his first shot in a 4–0 home win.

The goal meant that Lukaku has found the net in his first league game for five of the six clubs he has represented; Anderlecht, West Brom, Everton, Manchester United, and Inter.