Dani Alves’ inspired moment of improvisation when he defused a racist gesture through the act of picking up a banana and calmly eating it is quickly becoming a social media phenomenon.
The latest salvo in the burgeoning anti-racist campaign comes courtesy of his Brazil and Barcelona teammate Neymar, whose PR firm is launching a “we are all monkeys” social media initiative.
Sao Paulo-based company Loducca were alerted by Neymar’s father after his son also endured racist insults in an April 12 match in Granada, the firm’s vice-president Guga Ketzer said.
Photo: AFP
“The idea was to do something light-hearted, even amusing. We waited for the best moment and that came with what happened with Daniel on Sunday,” Ketzer said.
After Alves picked up the banana thrown by a fan at Villarreal — since banned for life by his club — social media sites burst into life as Neymar and even Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff joined in to decry racism.
Outraged at his teammate’s treatment, Neymar posted on Twitter with the hashtag #somostodosmacacos (“We are all monkeys”).
He then sent a photograph showing him eating a banana holding his two-year-old son, who was clutching a banana-shaped soft toy.
With Neymar the 74th most popular contributor to Twitter his tweet was promptly sent round the twittersphere thousands of times within hours.
Neymar’s response to “eat a banana” in response to racism was swiftly picked up by other contributors to social media Web sites in support of Alves.
Alves said his gesture was spontaneous, but did say he was aware of Neymar’s intention to act against racial insults.
“It had already happened to other teammates and we had talked about it,” the defender told Radio Globo. “We had already talked about a campaign that ‘Ney’ wanted to do on the issue as it [racism] had already happened to him.
“But my own reaction came spontaneously. Someone threw a banana, it fell in front of me and I picked it up and ate it without thinking of the consequences, simply to counter a negative action by a positive action,” he said.
“If you are not offended then the offender hasn’t achieved his goal,” he said.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS