NBA Commentator Calls Jianlian Yi "The Chinaman"

Lisa Lee
November 2, 2009

Possible arguments that this commentator might make:

1) I am
not a racist! I had no intention whatsoever of using a racial slur. I
called him a Chinaman because it's an accurate description of Yi
Jianlian. He is a man, from China, hence Chinaman. It is in no way,
shape, or form derogatory.

2) I am sorry if you feel offended by my comment, but it is simply not true that I was trying to offend anyone.

3)
I am simply uneducated and did not know that Chinaman is a racial slur.
I sincerely apologize for my usage of this word and promise that this
will never happen again.


Call me a cynic, but out of all the possible scenarios, I'd say that based on similar experiences in the past, 1 and 2 are probably more likely to take the cake.

Who is this commentator anyway? I'd like to send him a nasty email.

Categories: 
Media
Race
Sports
Contributor: 

Lisa Lee

Publisher

Lisa Lee works in User Operations at Facebook, and has more than five years of nonprofit experience in marketing and communications for multicultural arts and cultural organizations.

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Comments

Comments

Mike wrote on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 3:23pm
Don't forget "I even have friends that are Chinese!"
Anonymous wrote on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 3:38pm
Yi Jianlian has worked his way up to become part of the NBA, only to be ridiculed by an official, racist commentator.Ridiculous.
Harry wrote on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 7:03pm
Yao Ming was called Chinaman a few years ago by announcer Steve Kerr who claimed he had no idea it was offensive.
Anonymous wrote on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:18pm
I suspect... that it will go by completely unnoticed.
Fu Manchu wrote on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 9:24pm
"Nice pass and a dunk by the Chinaman!"
Lxy wrote on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 4:20am
In honor of the NBA and White media shills everywhere, I have to say that the video clip was a rousing piece of commentary by a Cracker-Ass-Cracker man. ;)
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