Richarlison had a banana thrown at him from the stands as he celebrated after scoring Brazil's second goal in a 5-1 win over Tunisia at the Parc Des Princes.
The incident has been condemned by the Brazil FA as well as Richarlison's club Tottenham Hotspurs while FIFA have indicated they are looking into the incident.
Richarlison caused uproar recently in England as he juggled the ball towards the end of Tottenham's 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest and Ferdinand is shocked the former Everton forward's showboating received as much coverage as this racist incident.
"You've got your own kids waking up and saying: 'Dad, have you seen that banana thrown on the pitch at Richarlison?' It's madness," Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel.
"There was probably as much vitriol and hysteria on social media and in the media in general as there were with this banana incident, racism incident, as there was when Richarlison was doing kick-ups."
"Football can play a good part in highlighting issues and standing together, standing strong and standing unified to make the authorities and powers that be put things in place to protect people, but it ain't happening. It's disheartening.
"Another day racism is okay and welcomed in football. Look at the reaction to the stuff with Vinicius Jr. I don't see the federations coming out and absolutely backing these players and going absolutely against it or a big press conference being called and saying 'we ain't having this'."
