Uruguayan Language Academy rejects FA sanction against Edinson Cavani as 'poverty of cultural and linguistic knowledge'

On Friday, the Uruguay language academy shared a statement rejecting football player Edinson Cavani's ban of three matches and a £100,000 (US$137,000) fine ruled by The Football Association (FA) in England.

The sanction was made on Thursday based on a comment on Instagram that the Uruguayan striker made to a fan who congratulated him on his football performance.

In particular Cavani wrote " negrito" and the FA concluded this was "insulting, abusive, improper and brought the game into disrepute" and "an 'aggravated breach' [...] as it included reference, whether express or implied, to colour and/or race and/or ethnic origin."

According to the Uruguay language academy, terms like "negro" (black) and specially its diminutive "negrito" —like terms such as "gordo" (fatso) or "gordito"— are often used in an endearing or friendly way and Further the statement says:

"In summary", the statement from the Uruguay language academy signed by its president, minister of the Electoral Court of Uruguay Wilfredo Penco, concludes by saying,

This was not the only Spanish language academy supporting Cavani against the accusation of racism. The Argentina language academy —Argentina, another country of the Río de la Plata Basin, shares with Uruguay the variety of Spanish known as Rioplatense Spanish— on December 22 called on the FA to acquit Cavani and

Meanwhile, in Argentina and Uruguay on Friday, the hashtag #graciasnegrito became a trending topic on Twitter, in support of Cavani against the sanction received.