Racist gesture against Wayne Simmonds at NHL game provokes outrage

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      A fan/shitsack at an NHL preseason game last night in London, Ontario, gave us all a taste of what many thought was a bygone era, an era when racism was something that fan/shitsacks felt comfortable celebrating in public, perhaps in the company of likeminded fan/shitsacks.

      With the exhibition game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers tied, right-winger Wayne Simmonds had his shootout attempt marred by a banana peel thrown from the stands. This was reportedly the second time in the evening that a banana was thrown at Simmonds by the unidentified fan/shitsack. Each was presumably a comment on the fact that Simmonds is not white.

      Simmonds, an emerging power forward from Scarborough, Ontario, who was acquired by the Flyers from the L.A. Kings during the summer, brushed off the incident in a postgame interview, but league commissioner Gary Bettman felt compelled to speak up this morning, calling it a “stupid and ignorant action”. And Simmonds’s fellow players have cranked up their Twitter machines to vent their outrage .

      You’d like—you’d really, really like—to believe that, somehow, this was all a giant comic misfire, that the banana peel was meant to play its old vaudeville role. But there’s just too much ugliness in the gesture, given that banana-throwing is a jibe favoured by racist fan/shitsacks around the world.

      Comments

      9 Comments

      Dave-o

      Sep 23, 2011 at 5:54pm

      This has nothing to do with "racism". Gimme a break. There are a number of blacks in the league and this is just a case of a piece of fruit being thrown at a player whom was not liked by someone. Never did the guy yell "nigger" or anything racist. You`re just mad `cause that was a waste of a good fruit.

      frankly speaking

      Sep 23, 2011 at 6:12pm

      Why does everybody make something out of a bannana peel? We all dont know for sure why some idiot threw a bannana peel on the ice. Maybe it is the same idiot or idiots who throw pennies or rats or octopy. Was it racist? We dont know for sure. If it was then get the people responsibly and make them apolize and have thier faces on the news and facebook. If not the mediea has to stop making stories out of nothing to get ratings,You people on TSN, ESPN, SPORSTNET and everyone else. Where have gone the days when real journerlism was the facts instead of a bunch of Crap spoken to get ratings. If you fine the person involved or persons let them have there say and find the real truth. Maybe they were stupid, because nothing should be thrown on the ice at any time so not to injure the players. I am getting to the point where I just want ot watch the Sport but not hear you Sportcasters anymore

      derp

      Sep 23, 2011 at 8:43pm

      can't compare Euro soccer to hockey. i remember seeing entire sections in Italy stadiums with swastika flags draped over the front and skinhead goons screaming racist slurs at their own players.

      also by writing a million articles about this, you just gave the troll who threw the peel what he wanted: attention/publicity.

      ?

      Sep 23, 2011 at 8:53pm

      bannana peel=Monkey reference.................dumb ass

      Morgasm

      Sep 23, 2011 at 8:59pm

      You guys are so dumb it belies belief. You don't know about the history of racism towards black people, and how monkey imagery has been a HUGE part of it, so you want to whitewash this like typical idiots. They didn't throw a banana at any WHITE hockey players, did they? You think that's a coincidence? Morons.

      M. Bizon

      Sep 23, 2011 at 11:28pm

      So are there Affirmative Action quotas for NHL teams now too?

      Straight Forward

      Sep 23, 2011 at 11:53pm

      First of all both "frankly speaking" and "Dave-O" you both are just as ignorant as the fan that threw the banana..twice. If you actually read the article or paid any attention to the story, you would have realized that a banana was thrown in the direction of wayne simmonds twice during the game. As for the comment about this not being racist, "monkey" is a racial used to describe anyone of dark skin to suggest that they are "sub-human" or have not evolved beyond ape stage. The fact that everyone associates bananas as a food eaten by monkeys(the animal), you should get the picture that throwing a banana at someone of dark skin, for example wayne simmonds, would most definitely be considered a form of racism. "frankly speaking" you also point out that if you find the person involved and let them have their say..do you actually believe this person would admit to throwing a banana or showing any form of racism publicly? You want to watch the sport and not hear commentators? but still, watching racism happen would be alright because well you didn't actually hear anything you just saw fruit thrown. The point I am trying to make is that what this so called "fan" did was disgusting, disgraceful and disrespectful oh and also a form of racism but clearly in todays day and age, there are still too many people that clearly are not educated enough or just plain ignorant to understand this.

      d s

      Sep 24, 2011 at 12:50am

      I have no problem with the action of the fan. No one knows why they threw the banana. I think is says more about the mindset of the commentators that they would link a piece of fruit with a racist slur.

      bettmansucks

      Sep 24, 2011 at 6:22pm

      This happens a fair bit in Russia. A friend of mine says they do it because Russians are not used to seeing skin tones darker than egg shell white...and claims it's not hate motivated.

      Very childish regardless of what it really is.