Fedez Apologizes for Offensive Lyrics about Sinner: Controversy in Italy

Fedez Apologizes for Controversial Lyrics about Jannik Sinner

The Italian rapper Fedez has issued a public apology following the publication of song lyrics that generated great controversy. In them, reference was made to the tennis player Jannik Sinner in a way that was interpreted as incitement to racial hatred. The controversy arose from an Instagram story where Fedez shared the lyrics of a new song. In Italian, the lyrics said: “Italy has a new idol named Jannik Sinner. Pure-blooded Italian with an Adolf Hitler accent.” Faced with this, a councilor from Bolzano, capital of the autonomous German-speaking province of South Tyrol, filed a formal complaint with the prosecutor’s office. The complaint is based on the Italian penal code, which punishes incitement to racial hatred and propaganda.

“I wanted to use a paradox and it went terribly wrong, about athletes who are born and raised in Italy but are often not considered Italian because of their skin color and apply it to the best athlete in Italy,” Fedez declared during a concert in Milan.

Fedez

Fedez continued his apology by taking responsibility for the mistake. “I didn’t achieve my goal and the only thing I can do is apologize. If something like this isn’t understood, it’s because of an error by whoever wrote it. So I take responsibility.” The reference to “purebred Italian” evoked Italian fascist propaganda from the 1930s, according to councilor Giuseppe Martucci, who called the reference to Hitler unacceptable.

“I felt it was my duty to act and defend the founding values of our constitution. We cannot allow public figures to normalize language that evokes racism and hatred,” Martucci stated.

Giuseppe Martucci

Jannik Sinner, who has surpassed Italian football stars in popularity, recently lost the US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz. This defeat cost him the number 1 spot in the ranking. This is not the first time Sinner has faced questions about his Italian identity. Before winning his first Grand Slam title and choosing not to play the Davis Cup in September 2023, he was the subject of criticism. Subsequently, after winning his first Grand Slam title at the 2024 Australian Open, Sinner was received as a national hero and met with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Chigi Palace.