Volleyball star Paola Egonu represented Italy at the just-ended Paris Olympics after she quit the women’s national team two years ago because of the racial abuse she was receiving on social media.
Egonu, who was born to Nigerian parents in the city of Padua, was also very instrumental in the Italian women’s national volleyball team’s campaign in France. Besides clinching gold with her teammates after beating the United States 3-0 in the finals, Egonu was also named MVP.
But the 25-year-old has once again been subjected to racist abuse as a mural that was unveiled on Monday to honor her was vandalized in the space of 24 hours, CNN reported. Street artist Laika painted the mural which is located around the Italian National Olympic Committee headquarters.
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The mural, named “Italian-ness,” was unveiled to celebrate Egonu re-joining the team and being awarded the MVP title. Prior to the mural being defaced, the painting showed the 25-year-old spiking a volleyball. It also contained the message, “Stop to racism, hate, xenophobia, ignorance.”
But Egonu’s skin was defaced with pink paint while the message was also covered. In 2022, Face2Face Africa reported that former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi reached out to Egonu after the Black volleyball player threatened to stop representing the national team because of racial abuse.
Egonu also filed a defamation lawsuit against Roberto Vannacci, a European Parliament member and member of Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League party, after he stated in a book that the 25-year-old’s looks were not a representation of “Italian-ness”, CNN reported. She, however, lost that suit in June.
And though Salvini congratulated the Italian women’s volleyball team after they clinched the gold at the Paris Olympics, he reiterated those sentiments. “I am very happy that the Italian volleyball team won and I congratulate all the athletes, especially Paola Egonu, who is a very talented athlete,” he told local news outlets.
“I have never questioned her Italian-ness,” he continued. “but I want to point out again that her physical characteristics do not represent the majority of Italians.”
Some politicians, however, offered support to Egonu and condemned the vandalization of the mural. “The act of vandalism on the work depicting Paola Egonu is simply intolerable,” Rome’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, posted on X.
“It is an insult to a great Italian who brought the colors of our country to the top of the world and to a committed artist. It is sad to note that in 2024 there are still racists, prisoners of their own ignorance who think they can turn back the hands of history.”
Italy’s tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, similarly shared a post on X, stating that it was “sad to have to give visibility to the cowardly gesture of those who defaced the mural of the splendid Paola Egonu, but every form of racism must be denounced and fought.”
Dispiace dover dare visibilità al gesto vigliacco di chi ha deturpato il murale della splendida Paola Egonu, ma ogni forma di razzismo va denunciata e combattuta. pic.twitter.com/DYFbZYVI9G
— Daniela Santanchè (@DSantanche) August 13, 2024
