Athens Prosecutor Xeni Demetriou has ordered a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding the racist comments on Greek TV by a basketball fan of Olympiakos against Panathinaikos’s player Thanasis Antetokoumpo.
The incident, which took place last week, caused an uproar with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras condemning the attack and posting a photo on his Instagram account wearing a basketball jersey with the name Antetokounmpo on it. “Respect and pride for people born and raised here and they made Greece, their homeland. No tolerance to racism and hatred “, Tsipras wrote.
Milwaukee Buck NBA superstar and brother of Thanasis, Giannis also chimed in condemning the comment made by a TV persona called Takis Tsoukalas who called Thanasis “a monkey” after Olympiakos had lost to Panathinaikos for the Euroleague.
Prosecutor Xeni Demetriou instructed the First Instance Court of Athens to conduct a probe to ascertain if the anti-racist law had been violated.
