AC Milan vice-president Paolo Berlusconi says Mario Balotelli was not offended by his recent racist remark.

AC Milan vice-president Paolo Berlusconi says Mario Balotelli was not offended by his recent racist remark

A video of Paolo Berlusconi -who is the brother of AC Milan president Silvio- went viral on the web. In the short footage he uses racist words in reference to the Italian of African origin.

In the video we hear him say: “Let’s go and watch our household’s little nigger.”

But Paolo Berlusconi, who was pictured smiling with the striker at the club’s training ground, said the former Manchester City striker understood the comment had not racist intent.

“I spoke to Balotelli, though in reality there was no need, seeing as he is an intelligent lad,” Berlusconi told Milan Channel.

“He had already understood my phrase was an affectionate one that was turned into a stupid media circus. Let us close this story, as Mario told me there was no need to say anything else.”

Berlusconi has insisted the phrase used to describe Balotelli was a way to express his affection and that his comments are not to be mistaken for a racial attack.