Simon Zebo has called for the Benetton player who sent his teammate a rotten banana as a secret Santa gift to be sacked.
Yesterday, Cherif Traore took to Instagram to reveal that he had been given a rotten banana by one of his teammates as part of their annual secret Santa Christmas tradition.
In the post, Traore said that he was deeply hurt by the 'offensive gesture.' He also said, "what hurt me most and seeing most of my mates present laughing.
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The Guinea-born Italian prop concluded his post by saying that he hopes the sender 'learns a lesson.'
The incident has proven to be quite controversial with many condemning the giver of the gift. Munster star Simon Zebo concurs with this assessment, and branded the person a 'scumbag' that should be 'named and shamed.'
"Name and shame the scumbag, Should be out of a job," wrote Zebo on Twitter.
The 28-year-old Traore, who moved to Italy from West Africa as a seven-year-old, today said that he had accepted an apology from those involved.
"Christmas is kindness, Christmas is gratitude, Christmas is forgiveness... I speak these words over my life this year and I want to put them into practice.
"I'm grateful for my club, my team and everyone who showed me closeness.
"And I want to forgive, which I admit, doesn't mean forgetting something, being passive about it when it happened.
"But I want to lick my wounds and carry on with my head up high with no weight on my heart."
After Traore made the initial post on Wednesday, Benetton Rugby released a statement saying that they condemned racisim. On Thursday, the entire squad was summoned to the training ground by club president Amerino Zatta, where an apology was made to the player.
On Thursday afternoon, The United Rugby Championship - the league in which Benetton play - issued the following statement: "The United Rugby Championship has been in communication with Benetton Rugby regarding the incident first identified in a social media post of Cherif Traore the Italian international prop forward.
"Benetton Rugby has been asked to provide a full report on what has occurred and what meaningful action will be taken as a result.
"Racism and discrimination of any kind are abhorrent, completely unacceptable in society and are utterly counter to the values of the sport of rugby and the United Rugby Championship.
"There will be no further comment until we have additional information on the incident."
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