Italian actor Lorena Monroe slams racist backlash by reading comments on live TV

Black Italian actress Lorena Monroe Cesarini raised her voice against racist abuse following her appearance at a local music festival. She highlighted the unpleasant comments directed against her for the colour of her skin by reading them out on live TV. 

The incident took place on Wednesday at Italy's annual Sanremo music festival. The 34-year-old actor made the comments during the telecast of the event on RAI state television.

Black Italian actress Lorena Monroe Cesarini highlights racist abuse on live TV 

Invited as a guest at the annual festival, Cesarini read out the various comments that she had been subjected to on social media.  “They invited you because you are Black,” was one of the comments she read and another was “Maybe they called you to wash the staircase or water the plants,” after the news of her appearance at the event surfaced. 

There were messages of support for her when she started reading the messages, and one person shouted, '“You’re Italian,” and she replied, “Yes, and proud.”

The actor shared that she had not experienced such racist comments in her life in Italy till now.  Her mother was from Senegal and her father was an Italian. 

She is clueless about what was making the netizens write such comments. 

“Why do people feel the necessity to write such things on social media? Why do people have a problem with the colour of my skin?” Evidently, for someone, the colour of my skin is a problem,’ she was quoted as saying. 

Such instances of racism in Italy have been coming to fire in recent years. The TV industry has attracted criticism for racist language and imagery, and for being unable to represent second-generation Italians of African or Asian origin as being integral to the society, as per a report on AP.  Previously, black fashion designers have also raised their voices for more representation in their industry.

“Lorena and her monologue are the reason we are doing the work we are doing,’’ said Michele Ngonmo, the head of Afro Fashion Week Milan, who has been supporting young designers of colour and setting up a database of black creatives based in Italy. 

President Sergio Mattarella too sent out a strong message against racism and antisemitism, terming it  “intolerable aggressions”, during his address to lawmakers after being sworn in for the second time. 

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP