Serie A chief apologises for anti-racism ape artwork

(Reuters) - Italy's Serie A chief has apologised for the ape artwork used for its anti-racism campaign which has been widely criticised.

The imagery by artist Simone Fugazzotto featured three apes with different colour eyes and detailing.

"We realised it was inappropriate," the league's chief executive Luigi De Siervo said in a statement on Tuesday.

Italian clubs AS Roma and AC Milan have criticised the choice of imagery that the league initially said "aims to spread the values of integration, multiculturalism and brotherhood".

Fugazzotto, who uses apes in much of his work, defended his creation, saying "we are all monkeys".

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris)