In 2016, wheelchair fencing medalist Emanuele Lambertini took the bronze medal when he competed in the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup. And on that same year, he ranked 8th in the “Men’s Foil Category A” during the Rio Paralympics.
Although Lambertini has given Italy so much pride and honor, this wasn’t enough to spare him from people’s criticism.
The social media outrage started when Canadian actress Grace Lynn Kung posted on her Twitter account a screenshot of Lambertini’s Instagram post.
Olympic level racism: 🏆#EmanueleLambertini #Olympics #italy #fencing #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/oXWNJVRQNX
— Grace Lynn Kung (@gracelynnkung) December 14, 2018
In the picture, which is captioned, “That’s how I feel after having eaten 🍣🍚🍜 for a week … but at least it was worth it,” you would see Lambertini happily pulling his eyes back to make them look “slanted.” However, those of Asian descent were quick to decipher the racism behind the post.
In some Asian countries, the slanted-eye gesture is considered to be a way of mocking an Asian’s eye shape.
American-Chinese actor of “Silicon Valley,” Jimmy O. Yang even posted about the photo on his Instagram account asking everyone to speak up about this irrational prejudice.
“This type of overt ignorance is absolutely unacceptable. This was posted today. We need to take a stance against this,” he said.
The Italian athlete already took down the post and even issued an apology. However, many people felt that the apology was rather unapologetic.
This is the MOST textbook non-apology I have ever seen @Paralympics @Olympics #emalambertini #emanuelelambertini #paralympics #japan #olympics #racism pic.twitter.com/T8hSsDNu61
— The Tea (@honey614lemon) December 16, 2018
The Paralympics is a non-profit organization that is based in Bonn, Germany. For almost three decades, the organization has been trying to challenge or break the stigma that people with impairments face every day. Through sports opportunities, persons with disabilities are able to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world.
With all the efforts to fight the different types of discrimination in sports, it’s quite disappointing to see a para-athlete like Lambertini citing an offensive joke towards another group of people.
Indeed, there is a huge margin between being racist and being funny.
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