Snapshot: Russian Racist Taunts Roberto Carlos With Banana

Chris Wright

24th, March 2011

20 Comments

By Chris Wright

Zenit St Petersburg have vowed to launch an internal investigation after this picture of Roberto Carlos being handed a peeled banana by a fan was published by the local press.

Carlos is now plying his trade in Russia with Anzhi, and the photo was taken before the Brazilian veteran’s new employers took on Zenit at the Petrovsky Stadium on Monday evening – though the man himself refused to be intimidated:

“I didn’t get offended, in my 37 years I’ve seen it all so I didn’t get upset after seeing a banana.”

Alas, fear not Roberto!

If you cast your mind back to Alexei Sorokin’s (Russia’s 2018 World Cup bid chief) explanation as to why Lokomotiv Moscow supporters unveiled a huge banana banner during Peter Odemwingie’s last game for the club before joining West Brom – you’ll recall that ‘being handed a banana’ is just the traditional Russian way of letting you know that you ‘failed a test’.

Looks like it.

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20 Comments

  1. despicable , simply put

  2. Nightguest says:

    Why banana is racist sign? Don’t understand.

  3. Rich says:

    2018…”lets kick racism back into football”

  4. shay says:

    @nightguest: Really? You don’t understand they are calling him a monkey? It’s totally sickening how low some people will sink. The man holding that banana should be banned for life.

  5. Nightguest says:

    I like banana. I’m monkey? :)

  6. Tinez says:

    shit hot racism from the russian club supporter there. can’t wait for 2018 when the world cup will solve all of these racism problems in russia.

  7. C says:

    No “In soviet russia…” jokes yet? You lot fail!

  8. nick griffin says:

    Cant see anything wrong with that. probably just thought he looked hungry…

  9. KevinW says:

    A racist gesture from a guy wearing sweatpants in public, can’t take that very seriously.

  10. says:

    I personally fear for any non white fan going to see their team at the 2018 world cup. I’m not saying every Russian is an ignorant racist, but there seem to be a lot of them who happen to live there. There will be ‘disappearances’

  11. Montesquieu says:

    “D³”

    Your statement is ignorant and xenophobic. Not to mention that you generalize without knowing enough to make such an ‘educated’ statement. Sure, Russia has a problem with hate crime and sure skinheads tend to be visible in public, but any movement which prides itself on wearing jackboots with different laces, shaved heads and generally clad in all black is going to stand out like a sore thumb.

    The fact that the Russian MVD (Police) has been generally incapable of fighting these groups, due to reasons of corruption, lack of resources and scant political support these groups tend to have; makes them seem more powerful than they truly are.

    The problem of these far right groups, parading around and resorting to hate crime, isn’t just a matter of ignorance. It mostly relates to socio-economic problems that these individuals have, which lead up to their involvement in these groups.

  12. The Yank says:

    Its a fruit. Let me repeat that, its a FRUIT. If anyone gets offended by that, they are more insecure than what 1000 hours of therapy could solve. I love bananas. They’re delicious. If someone offered me a banana, I’d say thank you. Thanks for the potassium and thanks for the ability to cause someone to slip on the peel.

  13. Grant says:

    @The Yank

    You’re an idiot.

  14. Bucefal says:

    Rich:
    In your country there is more than racism than in Russia! And fans in general scatter-brained…

  15. Khalid says:

    In Soviet Russia, banana means fail

  16. Milaa says:

    i don’t like bananas…

  17. Guilherme says:

    Maybe he should just have eaten the banana… But it is a fact that brazilians get discriminated in the US, in Spain, in Russia …

    It is not much different from people in US saying “we, in the west” in regard to people from Brazil. Don’t they know Brazil is also a western country?

  18. Billy says:

    OMG this is insane. It is a banana… Get over yourselves. How do you know he was being racist? Honestly, everyone assumes the worst in everyone else… He went off the field like a cry baby. He needs help and not because of a banana…

  19. John says:

    I lived in Russia for 10 years, travelled it and all the ex Soviet Bloc more than any Russian on public profile business ventures..I’m a black guy…there are the extremes in Russia, I’ve lost friends, I’ve been attacked by Nazi thugs, robbed by police because I was black..just like in USA & UK decades ago, but the UK & USA addressed the problem, Russia needs to do the same.
    I met some of the most fantastic people living in Russia and those Russians today remain my best friends. They do not support racism and publically show it.

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