In the midst of the Stop Asian Hate movement, the Juventus Women's Soccer team from Italy tweeted an overtly racist photo mocking Asian people.
On Thursday the team tweeted a photo of a player wearing an orange cone like a hat, and pulling their eyes up at the corners. The emojis suggested that gesture as well.
Twitter users did not respond well to any of it.
They have since deleted the tweet and issued an apology:
"We sincerely apologize that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone."
"Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination. #DifferencesMakeTheDifference"
The apology did not help the situation, as many felt it was disingenuous.
Especially with the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, this microaggression promotes the violence that so many Asian people have experienced over the last year and a half.
Juventus' Twitter apology left us with more questions than answers: Who thought this was okay? How could anyone let this happen? What is the team going to do to hold themselves accountable for their actions?
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