Balotelli's 'King Kong' cartoon in Italian paper sparks racist furore

London, June 27 (ANI): Italy striker Mario Balotelli has landed in another race row after an Italian newspaper depicted him as King Kong in a deeply offensive cartoon in a photo-illustration.

"Mario is such an important person in Italian football. Aspiring players in Italy who want to follow in his footsteps could wonder what support they will have when they get to his level when they see cartoons like that," a spokesman for the anti-racism organisation Kick It Out said.It is not the first time we have seen this sort of depiction of Mario and we think the media have a responsibility. How do they think they can portray him like that?" he added.

Prior to Italy's clash with England in the Euro 2012 quarterfinal match, Gazzetta dello Sport published a drawing of a giant Balotelli atop Big Ben swatting away footballs, in the same way King Kong did aircrafts atop New York's Empire State Building in the film.

The cartoon outraged the Balotelli camp while Gazzetta have issued an apology.

"It wasn't our cartoonist's best product. In these times we need a bit more moderation, caution and good taste. But we have always fought against racism and condemned booing against Balotelli as unacceptable," the Daily Mail quoted the Milan-based newspaper, as saying.

Not only the Balotelli camp, people in general all over Italy were left horrified after seeing photo depiction of the key player in Italy's team.

Balotelli, wh o is now preparing for Thursday's semi-final against Germany in Warsaw, has previously said before the Euro 2012 that he would walk off the pitch if he was racially abused. (ANI)