I was only 7 years old when the Orlando Magic were playing the Houston Rockets in an NBA Finals in the 1990s and I seem to recall that back then, the use of a gorilla to refer to black people was not considered racist and that the stadium or city of Orlando even had a big temporary gorilla statue in honor of Shaq during the Finals and Orlando fans dressed up in gorilla masks in the stands. Am I remembering things wrong?
I’m not trying to start a political debate, just asking if this was indeed common back then in the mid-1990s.
I don’t recall the incident that you seem to recall, but I will note something regarding the below:
I don’t think that this was generally true in the 1990s in the U.S. I’ll note that, a decade earlier, in 1983, Howard Cosell, who was the lead announcer for ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” referred to Alvin Garrett, an African American wide receiver for the Washington Redskins (as they were known then), as (spoiled because it’s racially insensitive) “a little monkey”. Cosell’s remark was criticized by many as racist, and despite support for Cosell from figures such as Muhammad Ali and Jesse Jackson (as well as Garrett), Cosell left MNF after the 1983 season.
FWIW, I don’t believe that Cosell was intentionally using the term with racist intent – he tried to defend himself afterwards by explaining that he used the term for his own grandchildren, and footage was found showing him using the same term for a white player (Mike Adamle) a decade earlier. Generally speaking, although Cosell could be a blowhard, he was also a longtime advocate for African American athletes, including, most notably, Ali, with whom he became friends.
I suspect that it was an unfortunate use of the term on his part, but the reaction to it demonstrates that, by the early 80s, such terms as the OP mentions were, indeed, already being seen as racist.
Specifically, Joel Przybilla; I suspect that the nickname came about not only because he was white, but because his surname rhymes with “gorilla” and “vanilla.”
I don’t know about the specific case, but I’m almost 65 years old and it’s been a racial insult to compare a black person to an ape for as long as I can remember.
There was an NCAA Player who called himself “The Gorilla Pimp” in the 1990s and that’s what the announcers would sometime refer to him as but I swear I can’t find anything about him at the moment probably because he washed out of the NBA so nobody cares.
When I was in high school our team played in the same league as Cambridge Rindge and Latin, which had a young Patrick Ewing. He was such a dominant force that his games attracted a lot of attention, including fans of the other team throwing bananas on the court. Needless to say, this was not welcome and fights weren’t uncommon. It was certainly a full blown and widely understood insult in the late 70s.
I had just moved to Orlando in the spring of 95’ and don’t remember any gorilla masks or statue. I went to the now demolished FanAttic store on Colonial Ave. many times during the playoffs and would have remembered seeing that.
