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Italian rapper Fedez accused of inciting racial hatred for lyrics targeting Jannik Sinner
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Jannik Sinner, of Italy, sits between sets during the men's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in New York. - photo by AP Photo/Seth Wenig
BOLZANO, Italy (AP) — Italian rapper Fedez has been accused of inciting racial hatred for publishing musical lyrics saying that top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner speaks with “Adolf Hitler’s accent.” Fedez recently posted an Instagram story featuring lyrics of a new song that said in Italian: “Italian has a new idol named Jannik Sinner. Pure-blooded Italian with Adolf Hitler’s accent.” A city council member in Bolzano — the capital of the German-speaking autonomous province of Alto Adige in northern Italy where Sinner is from — on Thursday filed a formal complaint with prosecutors over Fedez’s lyrics based on an article in Italy’s penal code that sanctions incitement of racial hatred and propaganda. The reference to “pure-blooded Italian” recalls Italian fascist propaganda from the 1930s, according to Giuseppe Martucci, the city council member, who added that the reference to Hitler was unacceptable.