AC Milan vice president Paolo Berlusconi used a racist slur to describe newly acquired forward Mario Balotelli during public remarks at a political forum in Italy.
Berlusconi, younger brother of the club president Silvio, described Balotelli, who is black, as “n——- di famiglia,” an Italian slur meaning “the family’s little n—–.”
The utterance came at a political meeting in Monza near Milan and was caught on film by local reporters and is being shown on the website of Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
It has already caused outrage in Italy, especially after Milan’s midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng won plaudits from the senior Berlusconi for walking off the pitch after being racially abused during a friendly in early January.
Paolo Berlusconi was attending a rally for a candidate for his brother’s right-wing People of Freedom party when he made the comments.
He said: “Okay, we are all off to see the family’s little n—–. He’s a crazy head. All the young ladies are invited as well — you can even have a chance to meet the president (Silvio Berlusconi).”
Italy international Balotelli joined AC Milan from Manchester City on transfer deadline day last week and scored twice on his debut against Udinese on Sunday.
