Thread by @SlavaMalamud

An extremely shameful episode that gives hockey and Ukraine a bad name. After an altercation with a Black US-born opponent, Deniskin imitated peeling and eating a banana. It was an elaborate, slowly acted gesture, not a spur-of-the-moment thing.
Just disgusting.

https://twitter.com/EvgeniyKolychev/status/1443167439202799621

Deniskin then made it worse (if at all possible) by issuing a non-apology along the lines of "if anyone was offended" and blaming "hockey emotions."
This is the kind of stuff hockey must stop immediately, especially in Eastern Europe, where it happens all the time.

Years ago (mid 2000s, to be precise) there was a debate in Russia about bananas being thrown at Black soccer players. A debate! Many journalists, respected ones, argued that it's a case of Black people being whiny and too sensitive.
"How is this racism? Bananas are delicious!"

Unfortunately, these attitudes persist. Few things unite Russians (and Ukrainians) as much as their opposition and fear of racial justice movements such as BLM. They view it as much ado about nothing at best and as an assault on the white race at worst.

This is why Russians boo and hiss during pre-kickoff kneel-downs. This is why bananas and monkey sounds are still common. And there is no explaining it to them. There is no desire to understand or change.
Bananas are delicious, indeed.
Weaponized white privilege.

And there you go. This is today. The only person standing is the Russian referee Karasyov.
Russian media and fans frame it as "Russians didn't oppress blacks, so we have nothing to apologize for", betraying a complete lack of understanding of the gesture.

https://twitter.com/sportexpress/status/1443251760454307842?s=20

Conversely when another Russian ref, Levnikov, did kneel back in the spring, he was roundly condemned in Russia, including by colleagues.
sportrbc.ru/news/605dce2f9…