Stephen Adam calls Curry and Thompson "quick little Monkeys"

[rondohondo]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

[Donoghus]

I think Adams nailed it with "poor choice of words".

He recognized it later on & apologized.  I don't think it should be blown into a big deal.

[JohnBoy65]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

I think he legitimately meant it. We've all been to zoos and have seen the quickness and agility of little monkeys. I think really it's an accurate comparison, and that he really meant that. Unfortunately for him as soon as you say the word monkey our society relates it to a racist term.

Adams was quick to apologize. I think it was an honest mistake, with a bad choice of wording (although he made a pretty good comparison).

[Snakehead]

This wasn't meant in harm and wasn't a big deal.

[pearljammer10]

Nothing here. I don't see any ignorance or racism in this one. He spoke his mind, some people will take it racially because we've become so over PC'd. Nothing wrong with this one, mates.

[manl_lui]

meh, not important imo, people try to make it sound worse than it actually is. Steve is from New Zealand and probably not too familiar with certain words meaning something else. Poor choice if words sure, racist and ignorant, definitely not. I think he just meant to call them quick

someone probably told him that monkeys could mean something racist and he was quick to apologize.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

The quick apologies definitely helped.

[sofutomygaha]

I think ignorant is right (not in the rude sense, in the unaware sense). He handled this a lot better than I did when I made the same mistake on this forum like 5 years ago.

[Clench123]

Nothing to see here.  You can clearly see that it's poor choice of words.

[Clench123]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

I think he legitimately meant it. We've all been to zoos and have seen the quickness and agility of little monkeys. I think really it's an accurate comparison, and that he really meant that. Unfortunately for him as soon as you say the word monkey our society relates it to a racist term.

Adams was quick to apologize. I think it was an honest mistake, with a bad choice of wording (although he made a pretty good comparison).

Yea, let's act as though whites or any other race get called monkeys or as if there isn't any historical background to the word as it relates to blacks 

[gift]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

I think he legitimately meant it. We've all been to zoos and have seen the quickness and agility of little monkeys. I think really it's an accurate comparison, and that he really meant that. Unfortunately for him as soon as you say the word monkey our society relates it to a racist term.

Adams was quick to apologize. I think it was an honest mistake, with a bad choice of wording (although he made a pretty good comparison).

Yea, let's act as though whites or any other race get called monkeys or as if there isn't any historical background to the word as it relates to blacks 

Yeah, let's be sure to continue to give power to the racist uses of common words that should have been left in the past. Let's make sure future generations have every opportunity to be hurt in the same ways as past generations. Let's remind ourselves to be affected by words, even if those words are used without malicious intent just because some terrible people once used the same words in a different way. Let's empower the legacies of those people forever.

I apologize in advance for my frustration.

[LarBrd33]

Poor choice of words.  Adams is from New Zealand.  Right next door is Australia.  This reminded me of this 2009 clip from an Australian reunion special of the show "Hey Hey It's Saturday".  One of the performances was a group doing Jackson 5 in blackface.  They had done it numerous times before. 

http://youtu.be/qEtjaZ8ZuNU

American musician, Harry Connick Jr, was a guest judge and was visible disturbed by the performance.

It got a little flack in Australia, but mostly just highlighted the difference in cultural acceptance of black face.  Part of the reason it didn't outrage more Australians is because the negativity surrounding black face is much greater in America.  It was a popular in American minstrel shows in the late 1800s/early 1900s.  It played on a lot of American stereotypes like plantation workers and "dandified coons".  It ended during the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s when Americans started to embrace and celebrate African Culture on a wider scale.   

The baggage surrounding blackface is much greater here.   In Australia, easily less than 1% of the population is black.  Actually, they have almost zero African-Americans living there - given that "African-American" refers to Americans of African descent and all. The African-Australians they do have mostly came in in the 1980s and 2000s.   While Australia dabbled in slavery with Aboriginal people, they have almost no personal context for why Americans react in horror at blackface.  To those dancers, they thought what they were doing was in good fun and harmless. 

I'm not saying it's the same thing, but Adams referring to a couple black people as monkeys was likely just as harmless.  He probably doesn't have it deeply embedded in him that saying such a thing is racist in America.  That's not to say that blackface/calling black people monkeys isn't racist everywhere, but the cultural awareness isn't the same globally.  I'm sure if a black American visited Australia or New Zealand, they'd potentially encounter what could be called racism here, but it would be a racism rooted in misunderstanding as opposed to deep-seeded hatred.   My guess was Adams just called them quick little monkeys referring to how quick and pesky they are and was mildly oblivious to how offensive that comment comes across in America. 

[greece66]

Not all societies carry the racial baggage of the US.

I mean, I even needed sometime to understand that some ppl interpreted of little monkeys as a derogatory term for African people; this is certainly a terrible thing to say in the States, but the interpretation depends on context. Adams had no bad intention.

[JohnBoy65]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

I think he legitimately meant it. We've all been to zoos and have seen the quickness and agility of little monkeys. I think really it's an accurate comparison, and that he really meant that. Unfortunately for him as soon as you say the word monkey our society relates it to a racist term.

Adams was quick to apologize. I think it was an honest mistake, with a bad choice of wording (although he made a pretty good comparison).

Yea, let's act as though whites or any other race get called monkeys or as if there isn't any historical background to the word as it relates to blacks 

What? I am not sure what you mean? Yeah the term 'Monkey' has been used a racially derogatory terms towards blacks in the past. However, I feel he was actually trying to compare them to monkeys. The term 'monkey' isn't racist. My point was it's a shame that when someone uses the word monkey in comparison to a human being the racist aspect is first thought of instead of the actual meaning. 

[pearljammer10]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/thunder-adams-calls-curry-thompson-quick-monkeys-article-1.2639510


What do you think ? Racist ? Ignorant ?

I think he legitimately meant it. We've all been to zoos and have seen the quickness and agility of little monkeys. I think really it's an accurate comparison, and that he really meant that. Unfortunately for him as soon as you say the word monkey our society relates it to a racist term.

Adams was quick to apologize. I think it was an honest mistake, with a bad choice of wording (although he made a pretty good comparison).

Yea, let's act as though whites or any other race get called monkeys or as if there isn't any historical background to the word as it relates to blacks 

What? I am not sure what you mean? Yeah the term 'Monkey' has been used a racially derogatory terms towards blacks in the past. However, I feel he was actually trying to compare them to monkeys. The term 'monkey' isn't racist. My point was it's a shame that when someone uses the word monkey in comparison to a human being the racist aspect is first thought of instead of the actual meaning.

We are all monkeys.

It's evolution baby.