Italian rapper Fedez apologizes for lyrics targeting Jannik Sinner after being accused of racism

MILAN AP Italian rapper Fedez has apologized for publishing musical lyrics saying that tennis participant Jannik Sinner speaks with Adolf Hitler s accent which prompted the musician to be accused of inciting racial hatred Fedez in recent times posted an Instagram story featuring lyrics of a new song that mentioned in Italian Italian has a new idol named Jannik Sinner Pure-blooded Italian with Adolf Hitler s accent A city council member in Bolzano the capital of the German-speaking autonomous province of Alto Adige in northern Italy where Sinner is from on Thursday filed a formal complaint with prosecutors over Fedez s lyrics based on an article in Italy s penal code that sanctions incitement of racial hatred and propaganda I wished to take a paradox and it came off terribly about athletes who are born and raised in Italy but often are not considered Italian due to the color of their skin and apply it to Italy s top athlete Fedez disclosed during a concert in Milan on Friday according to the Gazzetta dello Sport I wasn t able to pull it off and all I can do is apologize Fedez added If something like this isn t understood it s because of a mistake made by whoever wrote it So I take responsibility The reference to pure-blooded Italian recalls Italian fascist propaganda from the s according to Giuseppe Martucci the city council member who added that the reference to Hitler was unacceptable I felt it my duty to act and hold up the founding values of our constitution Martucci mentioned We can t allow language the evokes racism and hate to be normalized by citizens figures By winning four Grand Slam titles over the last two years Sinner has exceeded Italy s soccer stars to become the country s majority of popular athlete He lost the U S Open final to Carlos Alcaraz this month and lost the No ranking to his Spanish rival This is not the first time that Sinner has faced an underlying sentiment that he isn t fully Italian Before he won his first Grand Slam title and opted not to play Davis Cup for Italy in September saying he hadn t recovered in time from tournaments in North America he was widely criticized Caso Nazionale National Issue declared the front-page of Sportweek the Gazzetta dello Sport s weekly magazine in a headline with a double meaning Then when Sinner won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open he was treated as a national hero on his return home and met with Premier Giorgia Meloni at the Chigi Palace Sinner and Meloni posed for photos as they held aloft together first the Australian Open trophy and then the Italian flag Sinner then gave Meloni a warm embrace to end the meeting AP tennis https apnews com hub tennis Source