Italian MEP’s racist comments on volleyball star Paola Egonu spark outrage
Egonu (18) and Orro (8) of Team Italy in action during the Women's Volleyball Semifinals match between Team Turkiye and Team Italy on day thirteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris Arena on August 08, 2024 in Paris, France (AA Photo)
The comments made by Roberto Vannacci, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Italy’s far-right League Party, regarding Paola Egonu, the star player of the Italian women’s volleyball national team, have sparked widespread outrage.
Vannacci’s statement that Egonu, who previously played volleyball in Türkiye, has “physical characteristics different from most Italians” has ignited a major controversy.
Last year, Vannacci made racist remarks in his book “The World Upside Down” and was elected as an MEP from the far-right League Party in June of this year. On the day when the Italian women’s volleyball national team won the gold medal by defeating the U.S. 3-0 in the final, Vannacci remarked that he had not questioned Egonu’s Italian identity but noted that her physical characteristics did not represent most Italians. He also made similar comments about Ekaterina Antropova, a Russian-Italian volleyball player.
These remarks have received significant backlash from both political figures and social media users. Maurizio Gasparri, a senator from Forza Italia, a coalition partner of the League Party, described Vannacci’s comments as “brainless,” while party member Tommaso Antonino Calderone commented, “Vannacci’s theories about Italian physical characteristics came at just the right time on the volleyball team’s success day.”
Angelo Bonelli, leader of the opposition parties Green and Left Alliance (AVS), stated that the Olympic victory represented the success of a multi-ethnic Italian national team. Vannacci’s comments were also harshly criticized on social media.
Egonu had previously announced her desire to take a break from the Italian national team in October 2022 due to racist attacks and comments. In February 2023, she had stated that Italy was a “racist country.” She had filed a complaint against Vannacci’s remarks in his book, but the case was dismissed.
These developments have once again brought Egonu’s success in her sports career and her stance against racism into the spotlight.
