PALERMO, Sicily (AP) — The president of Palermo soccer’s team has compared a player’s agent to “Jewish lawyers,” insisting his comment was a compliment, not anti-Semitic.
Maurizio Zamparini used the expression during an interview with SportMediaset. But amid reports that an Italian soccer federation prosecutor is investigating, he is trying to explain himself.
In a statement released Thursday, he says “the word Jewish is for me synonymous with admiration for enterprising youngsters who look for work and get it intelligently. … It was praise changed into an insult.”
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi has opened an investigation into Zamparini’s comments about Javier Pastore’s agent.
