'Not another darkie': Swedish sports journo
Published: 8 Oct 12 16:13 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43692/20121008/
A Swedish sports commentator has come under fire for referring to a football player as a “darkie” (svarting) during a live weekend radio broadcast; however he claims that he didn’t realize he was on air at the time.
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“I’m so old so I have a different background with these kinds of words. Blackie is not disparaging for me. I can say ‘yellow’ about a Chinese person, I could bloody well say 'whitey' too. For me, it’s mostly just a description,” he told the Aftonbladet newspaper.
Furthermore, the commentator explained that he wasn’t aware that he was being recorded, as he was merely sitting next to another commentator and was picked up by the microphone.
“I was speaking to myself in my corner. It wasn’t meant to go out. I had no idea that it was being transmitted.”
When asked if he understood why there was a public backlash, Hansson responded affirmatively.
“Yes, nowadays, it’s clearly very serious. For me it’s not really the same. And it definitely shouldn’t have gone out. I was just sitting and speaking for myself.”
According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, the remark came in the 77th minute of the AIK verse Gefle match when Kwame Karikari was substituted for Viktor Lundberg, prompting Hansson to say: “Not another darkie!”
The word was used at least another two times.
“There are so many players that are too similar – too many. These are black players who are brought up in the same way and who play in exactly the same style. But adding one more made it even more jumbled. And they lost the match too.”
While Hansson refused to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by the comments, he said that he didn’t mean any harm and maintained that he didn’t realize he was being overheard.
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We clearly have some problems in the USA,to be sure but call any one of our fine players a name like that from the stands and you won't be walking home that night!
We have to eliminate such behavior at the lowest levels if we ever hope to eliminate it at the highest levels. How do you expect to minimize prejudice such as this if it is ingrained in our culture at such an early age and at such low levels? It may seem innocuous, but it is indeed insidious.
Think about how Rudolph Giuliani turned New York City from a crime-ridden hive of filth into one of the safest big cities in America in less than a decade. He did it by switching the focus from big crimes to the seemingly minor issues of graffiti and broken windows. By correcting the structural decay and delinquent behavior of youths, he reduced the tendency for more serious crimes later on. It was a matter of taking pride in your neighborhood, knowing that graffiti and decay would not be allowed to flourish that instilled in the citizens of NYC a perspective of respect rather than opportunistic vandalism.
Basically, instead of chopping off the tops of the trees, Giuliani chopped out the roots. And that is what is needed in this situation. It is pretty clear how it works.
Everyone in broadcasting it taught early that "the microphone is always open somewhere".
Retire him,it's long over due and he's an embarassment to younger,ethnically diverse broadcasters at the company,isn't that enough of a reason?
I'm waiting...they are...
'cheeky darkie' - he should have got the boot too. But didn't. He instead apologised and made a $10 000 donation to "SAVE THE CHILDREN".....
Despite apologising previously, he then went on in later years to make racially insensitive comments on more than 3 separate occassions without reprisal as shown on here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Holmes_%28broadcaster%29
The most recent was this year demeaning the New Zealand Maori indigenous people. As you can see, this is a man who clearly is not under any threat, judicially or institutionally in broadcasting to make any change. Which very well may be the case here.
There are way too many people on mass media running amok like loose cannons with no social responsibility or accountability. It's time to make some examples, as they say " a stitch in time".....
It is called "Cultural enrichment".
Wat is wrong in a black man playing football. It obviously proves that he is not happy that a black man has been bought. Are Blacks not human. Most of this stupid racist comments are only allowed in sweden. Our children will go to places like uk or us thinking it is ok to use racist words flippantly.
He was speaking to himself which is ok by me but we all know that he is racist now in his mind.
Oh and he's also an idiot for calling a Chinese person yellow - has he seen them of late? They range from dark brown to pale white, whiter than many whites.