A Romanian TV show host is still at post after calling tennis icon Serena Williams ‘a monkey’ on a late evening show on B1 TV.
“Serena Williams looks exactly like one of those monkeys at the zoo with the red asses,” said host Radu Banciu. “If monkeys wore trousers, they’d look exactly like Serena Williams does on the court.”
After receiving backlash for the comment, Banciu was fined $1,875 by the National Council for Combating Discrimination in Romania, a report by the Insider said.
RELATED STORIES
A statement released by the council said: “The governing board shows that slavery of people of color was based, among other things, on their comparison with monkeys.”
“As a result, such statements express a form of extreme racism,” the statement added.
This is not the first time that Banciu has made racist and sexist comments as he was once quoted calling Moldovan women “lazy whores.”
He was reprimanded but not fired as many expected.
Many had thought that he would be sacked from his post this time around but it appears Banciu will be keeping his job.
Tennis star Serena Williams can’t cut some slack looking at the racial abuse she has had to endure in recent times.
Australian cartoonist Mark Knight came under fire last September for drawing a stereotypical racist cartoon of Williams.
The cartoon, first published by the Herald Sun, went viral with many people calling Knight and the publication racist and sexist.
Williams is seen with exaggerated lips while she is stomping on a tennis racket. The portrayal of her features is highly reminiscent of how blacks were seen in minstrel shows and advertisements during the days of Jim Crow.
Williams opponent, Naomi Osaka’s caricature was, however, made to conform to the standard European features even though she is Half-Japanese and Half-Haitian.
That same month, three white Australian Rules football players attending a party dressed up in blackface impersonating Serena and Venus Williams, as well as, a colleague Kenyan-born footballer by name Aliir Aliir.
Their inexcusable act, which received fierce backlash forced both the players as well as, their team, the Penguin Football Club to come out and apologize.
Williams said in a 2016 interview that she and her sister, Venus Williams, have had to endure racism while on the court as young girls.
“I do remember one time I was playing, and these kids came up behind me while we were practising and — I was probably, like, 7 — they were calling me Blacky. [Both laugh.] Me and Venus, they were like, ‘Blacky and Blacky.’ I remember thinking, ‘I don’t really care’ — and that’s pretty crazy to think that at that age.”
“A lot of black people, unfortunately, especially growing up, are discouraged, like, ‘You don’t look good’ or ‘Your hair is not pretty’ or ‘Your skin’s too dark.’ We were always told to love ourselves. My dad always said you have to know your history, and if you know your past, you can have a great future.”
“I’m so focused on what I need to do to be the best I can be — and then better,” she said.
