Serena Williams Rips Tennis Hall of Famer Ilie Nastase Over 'Racist Comments' About Her Unborn Child
Serena Williams is swinging back at shocking comments from hall of fame tennis player Ilie Nastase that she says were “racist comments” made about her unborn baby.
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The Romanian tennis hero was asked about Williams’ pregnancy announcement at a news conference in her country Saturday and said: “Let's see what color it has. Chocolate with milk?"
Williams fired back on Instagram in a lengthy post Monday evening saying, "It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and unborn child."
A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Apr 24, 2017 at 12:58pm PDT
The International Tennis Federation has suspended Nastase, who was known as "Nasty" during his playing days. They have also launched an probe into the remarks.
“The ITF does not tolerate discriminatory and offensive language and behavior of any kind," The ITF said in a statement to ESPN. "We are aware of alleged comments made by Romanian captain Ilie Nastase and have begun an immediate investigation so that we have the full facts of the situation before taking further and appropriate action.”
After facing criticism, the 70-year-old retired tennis player told Romanian news channel Digi24 that his comments “were a joke.”
Read: Serena Williams Was Pregnant When She Won Australian Open
“If someone didn’t understand it, they lack humor,” he added. “They have their own humor and we have our humor.”
Williams is due to have her first child with her fiancé, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, later this year. She will not play in any tournaments in that time to focus her pregnancy.
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