A bizarre story coming out of Italian media today is the sacking of Paulo Di Canio by Sky Sport Italia.
It all went down due to a Facebook Live video broadcast by Sky Sport in which Di Canio's tattoos were showing, and his 'DUX' tattoo, a nod to fascist leader Benito Mussolini, sparked outrage amongst viewers.
What is strange about this incident is that this tattoo was not a secret, and as Di Canio usually wears a long-sleeved shirt on TV, it is normally not a problem, but as he was wearing a polo shirt (as can be seen in the picture above) in the Facebook Live video, Sky Sport took the decision to sack him.
They then released the following statement:
Sky Sport Italia: "We made a mistake. We apologise for those whose sensibilities were hurt." Paolo Di Canio sacked. https://t.co/pDl4mbToCB
— footballitalia (@footballitalia) September 14, 2016
Defending fascism is a crime in Italy, so it was a rather big blunder to allow him to appear on a public platform such as major sports network's social media page with his tattoos visible.
The video was removed and Di Canio was sacked within hours of it airing. Italian journalist Riccardo Bocca has accused Sky Italia of hypocrisy in a post that he published on his Facebook page arguing that they never should have hired him in the first place if this was a problem, as Di Canio's ink was certainly not a secret.
This isn't the first time Di Canio's beliefs have gotten him into trouble, as he was suspended in 2005 for doing a fascist salute to the Lazio supporters, but this time it seems to have been a mistake, and not necessarily one by Di Canio, that has ultimately cost him his job.
