A Swiss-Italian television host has apologised for mimicking Asians on a satirical TV show aired by private Italian network MediaSet. The apology came after her actions sparked protests on social media.
The main host Michelle Hunziker and co-host Gerry Scotti made slanted-eye gestures and mimicked an Asian accent on the TV show Striscia la Notizia (The News Crawls).
Michelle Hunziker apologised in a video on Instagram, saying, “I am truly sorry and I apologise if I hurt anybody. I realise we are in a time when people are sensitive about their rights, and I have been so naive not to take that into consideration.”
“I am the furthest thing from racist,” Hunziker added in her post.
Another protest was lodged against Hunziker and Scotti for laughing at a skit on their program that used racist language to describe African children.
A Black Lives Matter protest was held last week outside the Rome studios of Italy’s RAI state television over racist language and the use of blackface on one broadcast.
Kindly click the link below to join WhatsApp group chat to get important news and breaking news from Irish Samachar