The Red Devils are in “hope their cultural context” submission will help save Edinson Cavani from a racism ban for his “negrito” Instagram post as the striker faces a lengthy suspension.
The Uruguayan striker, Edinson Cavani who only signed for United in the summer, faces the prospect of at least a three-match ban from the Football Association for using discriminatory language or using racism.
After scoring in the 3-2 win over Southampton, Cavani responded to an Instagram post by a friend writing “Gracias Negrito” and a handshake emoji on his Instagram page.
Though the striker pulled the post down and apologized after explaining it was “an affectionate greeting to a friend”, the Football Association is looking into it. The reason being, under FA rules, the striker could face a minimum of a three-match suspension if found guilty of a discrimination offense.
However, according to “The Athletic”, United will present a “cultural context” in their case to the FA. This included written evidence that this was a specific nickname for the friend in question and that the term has been used by Cavani and his circle of friends.
Cavani said, “it was intended as an affectionate greeting to a friend, thanking him for his congratulations after the game. The last thing I wanted to do was cause offense to anyone”.
“I am completely opposed to racism and deleted the message as soon as it was explained that it can be interpreted differently. I would like to sincerely apologize for this”.
At the time, a United statement read, “It is clear to us that there was absolutely no malicious intent behind Edison’s message and he deleted it as soon as he was informed that it could be misconstrued”.
However, both United and Cavani accept the word has different connotations in the UK and will accept the FA punishment.