04/24/24
January 05, 2012
Florida Panthers Krys Barch Suspended One Game for 'Inappropriate Language' : "I stated my case; I know myself and what I said. It may have been inappropriate but it was nowhere near a racial slur nor that intent,'' Barch stated. Although Barch nor the Panthers will divulge what Barch said, 2 sources told The Herald that, aside from various expletives, Barch basically asked Subban if he "slipped on a banana peel" after his legs went out from under him after being punched by Gudbranson.
posted by tommytrump to hockey at 01:18 PM - 15 comments
I disagree. Yelling anything at a black athlete involving a banana is likely enough to be racist that it should be punished.
posted by rcade at 03:51 PM on January 05, 2012
Man, I don't think so, rcade. The expression "slipping on a banana peel" has never had any racial connotation that I've heard of, any more than "calling a spade a spade". The problem is that those expressions aren't used as commonly as they once were. Meanwhile, uses of "spade" and "banana" that are racist have become more common...but that doesn't make the original expression racist, then or now.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 04:21 PM on January 05, 2012
Do you also believe that the fan who threw the banana peel at Wayne Simmonds during the preseason had no racist intent?
posted by rcade at 04:42 PM on January 05, 2012
Wow, by the Yelling anything at a black athlete involving a banana is likely enough to be racist that it should be punished standard, it will be very hard not to piss somebody off.
Can't mention watermelon, fried chicken, bananas, plantations, or a thousand other words that if used in a certain way might be considered racist. "slipping on a banana peel" is no more racist than "do you want to go get some fried chicken" but since bananas and fried chicken have been used in racist formats they are now off limits?
posted by dviking at 04:53 PM on January 05, 2012
Can't mention watermelon, fried chicken, bananas, plantations, or a thousand other words that if used in a certain way might be considered racist.
Because there are so many ways to talk about fried chicken and watermelon innocently when you're yelling at a black athlete in your sport.
Barch is a well-compensated pro athlete who is responsible for representing his sport with honor and respect. The Wayne Simmonds banana peel incident was widely publicized across the NHL *and* widely perceived to be racist in intent.
I think a one-game suspension is fair regardless of what Barch intended. Nobody is a mind-reader. Pro leagues across the world are cracking down on racism directed at black athletes -- especially soccer. If you want a zero-tolerance atmosphere for fans, you have to maintain a zero-tolerance atmosphere for players.
posted by rcade at 05:09 PM on January 05, 2012
While I don't believe that this particular comment has to necessarily be racist in intent, why would he have said:
"The things I said were pretty explicit and maybe not for kids' ears, so that's why I can't repeat it. My grandma wouldn't want to hear it, lets put it that way.''
if there isn't something there. To me, this is basically admitting guilt, and I don't have a problem with a 1-game suspension.
posted by bender at 05:28 PM on January 05, 2012
Do you also believe that the fan who threw the banana peel at Wayne Simmonds during the preseason had no racist intent?
There's no other explanation for throwing a banana at someone. "Slipped on a banana peel" makes far more sense without any racial conotations.
posted by tron7 at 06:11 PM on January 05, 2012
Yeah, I'm having trouble seeing how those are of a piece. It's as though saying I will punch you and punching you are the same thing. Sort of. Except not.
posted by yerfatma at 08:47 PM on January 05, 2012
There's no other explanation for throwing a banana at someone.
The fan, Chris Moorhouse, had no idea his action could be perceived as racist, his lawyer claims.
posted by rcade at 08:54 PM on January 05, 2012
I don't see how saying "did you slip on a banana peel" is so bad that he wouldn't want his grandmother to hear it, so I guess he said a whole bunch more stuff that isn't being reported. So, why are we pretending like that is all he said? There is more, we know there is more because he admits as much, and the NHL thought whatever he said warranted a suspension. It'd be nice to know what he said to judge for ourselves, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen here.
posted by bperk at 10:06 PM on January 05, 2012
Because there are so many ways to talk about fried chicken and watermelon innocently when you're yelling at a black athlete in your sport.
Well, yeah. So a player loses their footing several times, and the coach is in his face going "what the hell is wrong with you? Did you slip on a banana peel?" That automatically is racist if the athlete is black?
Not sure if yelling is a legal defining point on racist comments, I suppose context plays into it. However, to go so far that any comment regarding bananas is thus racist seems extreme.
posted by dviking at 10:51 AM on January 06, 2012
I didn't say it was automatically racism. I said there was enough likelihood it was racial that some kind of punishment was warranted. I might feel differently if a long suspension was doled out, but it was just one game.
posted by rcade at 11:13 AM on January 06, 2012
So a player loses their footing several times, and the coach is in his face going "what the hell is wrong with you? Did you slip on a banana peel?" That automatically is racist if the athlete is black?
There is a difference if it's a teammate/coach/friend making the comment, and an opponent directing it from a distance during a heated exchange in a game.
I don't see how saying "did you slip on a banana peel" is so bad that he wouldn't want his grandmother to hear it, so I guess he said a whole bunch more stuff that isn't being reported.
I'm guessing there were some descriptive adjectives and adverbs with the same root word (that rhymes with "puck").
posted by grum@work at 01:59 PM on January 06, 2012
There is a difference if it's a teammate/coach/friend making the comment, and an opponent directing it from a distance during a heated exchange in a game
And that difference makes it racist? Again, don't think so. There may have been racist stuff in the talk we didn't hear, but the "he said the word banana, aha, racist" logic that some of you are using is weak.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:30 PM on January 07, 2012
Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm all for stamping out racism, but if the facts are as presented in the article, I'm confused: slipping on a banana peel is ipso facto racist now? Pro athletes could probably be smarter about banana references given the use of that imagery in European football, but this feels like over-parenting. Knee-jerk reaction.