Serie A faces revolt from top clubs over decision to use chimpanzees in anti-racism campaign

Italy's Serie A faced mutiny from its top clubs on Tuesday as the row deepened over the league's controversial decision to use artwork of chimpanzees in a new anti-racism campaign.

Both AC Milan and Roma expressed disbelief, claiming Italy's top tier administrators had failed to inform them of their plans ahead of the disastrous PR own goal.

Three paintings of apes by the artist Simone Fugazzotto are going on display at the headquarters of the Italian top tier this week. Responding the furore, Fugazzotto, whose artwork often depicts monkeys, described the response as a "complete madhouse". "I expected some controversy, but not like this," he added.

The clubs, meanwhile, voiced their opposition after The Daily Telegraph disclosed how Romelu Lukaku and his representatives had been left "disgusted".

Milan said in a statement: “Art can be powerful, but we strongly disagree with the use of monkeys as images in the fight against racism and were surprised by the total lack of consultation."

Roma added they were "very surprised" by the campaign. "We understand the league wants to tackle racism but we don’t believe this is the right way to do it," the club added.

However, Fugazzotto said he was "proud of what I have done" because "maybe for the first time ... we can really confront this problem."

The artist said he had been deliberately looking to challenge prejudices.

"I sought to turn around the words of racists," Fugazzotto told the Reuters news agency. "At the stadium they shout 'monkey', they throw bananas on the pitch and make monkey noises so I said ... I will turn around this monkey theme and I will say we are all monkeys," he said.

Serie A general manager Luigi De Siervo had been quoted earlier saying the chimpanzee paintings "fully reflect the values of fair play and tolerance, so will remain in our headquarters".

The display comes less than two weeks after Roma and AC Milan issued club bans on the Corriere dello Sport newspaper for using the headline "Black Friday" alongside pictures of Lukaku and Chris Smalling ahead of a match between Inter Milan and Roma.

Michael Yormark, the chief executive of Roc Nation agency, which represents Lukaku, told Telegraph Sport the choice of artwork - after another season of monkey chants against black players - was "a disgrace".

Lukaku was met with monkey noises as he went to take a penalty in a win away at Cagliari earlier this season, while Mario Balotelli has also been targeted and he reacted furiously away at Hellas Verona when he heard abuse aimed at him, almost threatening to walk off the pitch. Yormark warned players will start thinking twice about playing in Serie A.

Last month all 20 clubs in Italy's top tier signed an open letter which called on "all those who love Italian football" to unite to try to eradicate its "serious problem with racism".