The amount of times I've had heated arguments with Liverpool supporting mates over the Suarez incident, where I said it was utterly racist and they said it was a completely acceptable term in his culture.
The hole this fecker has just put me in.. I'm gonna get so many messages today
Not sure if you or someone else can clear this up, but did Suarez actually use this word? I was under the impression this was the excuse Suarez provided, after the incident, but Evra maintained he'd used a different word?
Regardless, as many have already pointed out it's the context that's important. Suarez obviously wasn't using it as a term of endearment, to an opponent during one of the most hotly contested matches on the football calendar.
That's why it was racist in tone, and if your scouser mates don't understand that then it just shows their judgement has been clouded by loyalty. It's similar to calling your friend a cnut during a bit of banter, and then just shouting it in the face of someone who bought the last jumbo sausage roll in Gregg's that you had your eye on. There's obviously no racism involved in that example, but one is obviously meant to be aggressive and offend, which is what Suarez was trying to do to Evra.
For the record, I don't agree with what Cavani said, and although I understand the arguments of our South American members on this forum, I think that a footballer should always be careful with the language that they use in the public domain. You don't want kids picking that up, because in our culture it is almost always deemed offensive to bring skin colour into language, and for good reason.
I am a little bit upset at how it's already being covered though, especially how it's being compared to the Suarez incident. It just isn't the same, and it only undermines incidents like that and Terry v Ferdinand. It's a missed opportunity to educate people, especially on the UK's racist past and why it's important to understand that before you can start to really make important changes.
Instead they'll just carpet ban a player without any real discussion on these matters, because it's easier to do that than really be introspective and try and make real changes, and then you'll get the usual 'cancel culture' talk and how the worlds gone 'PC mad'.
If the FA ban him for 3 games then I can understand their intentions might be in the right place, but it's horribly misguided.