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LOCOG’s warned that social media could be dangerous for athletes, but it’s not a Brit that’s the first casualty — a Greek triple jumper got ejected from her Olympic squad after racist “joke” tweets sent the Greek Olympic Committee reaching for the you’re fired button.
Voula Papachristou posted racist comments targeting Africans living in Greece, as well as retweeting comments from a far-right politician slating immigration. That instilled anger from the Greek population, as well as the government, calling her to be booted out of the Greek Olympic squad.
Papachristou publicly apologised on Twitter, but it wasn’t enough to save her Olympic career. The Greeks decided her comments went against everything the Olympics stood for, and so banned she was, which sounds fair to me.
I have to admit, with LOCOG’s super-harsh social media rules, I thought it would be one of the Brits getting in trouble via Twitter or Facebook first, but I guess Papachristou saw to that. Something tells me we’ll be seeing more social media slapdowns in the near future, hopefully without a racist bent. [BBC]
Image credit: Banned from Shutterstock
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Well, there was this Brit who was kicked out of the Olympics http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024952/London-riots-2011-Olympic-ambassador-Chelsea-Ives-said-best-day-ever.html
Yes, but she wasn’t an olympic athlete
shame. she looks quite fit. oh well, who wants a fit racist… well, i guess i would swap her for nick griffin lol
Sam I really think that the title of this article should be “Greek Olympic Athlete Booted Out of the Games For Being a Racist Moron”. “Twitter Gaffe” sounds like you accidentally sent something to person a rather than person b. This was someone who was going to be representing their country alongside others of all races and nations quite clearly expressing racist views, While the Olympic ideal may have been sold off to the highest bidder many years ago, this still goes against everything it used to stand for.
That’d be libellous, the moron bit, anyway.
Really? Just before going to the Olympics she posts racist comments on a publicly available social network. I’d say it was easier to prove she was a moron than a racist.
And show me the intelligent racist that isn’t a moron? They don’t exist – the difference between a racist and liberal is purely education. By definition alone all racists are morons.
And Sam who is going to take you to court to prove they may be a racist but they aren’t a moron – ‘gaffe’ does underplay this like she put her boss in the CC for a email ripping into her boss, this wasn’t a gaffe it is the spreading on intentional hate.
She made a bad joke from a legitimate political viewpoint.
She’s not a Nazi, she’s just comes from a country that’s going through some extreme economic bullshit and she let some of the frustration out.
She’s a triple jumper for fucks sakes, a callow young person who spends all her time on a track. She’s not a diplomat or politician.
Now her life has been ruined by the reaction of a committee who don’t understand the ethos they’re supposed to promote.
People are not all the same, there are differences of opinion, politics, religion but you have to live together, not try to smear humanity into an evenly spread paste.
people grow, opinions change and to utterly ruin a 23 years olds dreams for not having a very well thought out political view is a fucking disgrace.
See tweeted a highly racist joke and supports the Golden Dawn, Greek Neo-Nazi party. People can make mistakes and grow and learn, and consequences is a huge part of that, the racist got some of what is coming to her, put not everything that is coming to her. If she wanted to compete then she should just get on with being a professional athlete rather that promote hate.
I think she was a moron, I also think people get labelled racist far far too easily.
I don’t think she should have been banned for being a moron.
Zero tolerance though is the best way surely.
Noooo, otherwise we’d all be banned from everything cos we’re ALL morons at least some of the time
You don’t have zero tolerance towards a child because it doesn’t know not to shit on the carpet.
You try to convince the child there’s a better way of doing things
As for promoting hate, how do you think this is going to go down in Greece?
And is do you think she’s going to accept her opinion was wrong or is she going to be one vengeful triple jumping bitch.
I bet she’s more racist now that she was last week.
Wrong on all counts Mark..
She did NOT Tweet a highly racist joke. In fact she tweeted a joke concerning a current affair (the West Nile Outbreak) and an immigrant group (Africans).
Here is the joke:
Με τόσους Αφρικανούς στην Ελλάδα.. Τουλάχιστον τα κουνούπια του δυτικού Νείλου..θα τρώνε σπιτικό φαγητό!!!
and in English:
With so many Africans now in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes can eat homemade food!
What about this joke makes it ‘highly’ racist? What offence can it possibly give? That Africans from the Nile River basin get mosquito bites? There is no libel, no dehumanizing undertone, no denigration of Africans. In itself, it is only highly racist in a crazy PC world.
Now – we all know that the joke is a political commentary on the immigration problems in Greece and the strain that is putting on social services in the backrupt country. But is that in itself racist? And as a tax paying Greek does she not have the right to hold her own views on immigration policy?
She is a young athlete growing up in a country that is completely f-cked – a member of a generation that has absolutely no hope of a real future unless they leave Greece.
A life lost over a thoughtless Tweet.
I’m glad the PC crowd avenged all those people who were mortally offended. I am not surprised that most of the offended were liberal white journalists based in affluent parts of Europe.
Good job! You got her…
Pathetic…
***Her support of Golden Dawn is irrelevant other than looking for another reason to hate her rather than understand her.
THANK G-D YOU SAID IT: Because I was hessitant to say it myself – and that is part of the problem isn’t it?
Ruining this girl’s life over a silly tweet is absolutely disgraceful and everyone jumping on the PC bandwagon and condemning this poor kid should remember that is EXACTLY what they are doing.
Take this young woman’s life and job away over stupid error in judgement.
So very, very sad.
It’s one Olympics though. It’s not going to ‘ruin her life’. Let’s not overstate things here.
I understand your point Bleary, and I agree. But she isn’t a child, she is a grown woman who is representing her country and that has a certain set of responsibilities associated with it.
Yeah that’s fair enough, there have definitely got to be consequences.
I just think banning her outright is a very lazy & counter productive thing to do.
As for ruining her life, I’ve never trained hard enough to represent my country at the Olympics only to be denied the chance at the last minute so I can’t say 100%.
Ok so what’s the alternative? Allowing someone who publicly said something that was clearly and deliberately racist to represent her country? Also this is not taking her “life and job away”, she is just being prevented from competing in the Olympics BY THE GREEKS, not by us, not by the IOC, by her own people.
BANG
OUCH
I am not sure I see how it was clearly and deliberately racist.
I think it was clearly and deliberately political.
Does it not say something about the minds and thought processes of everyone involved to scream racism because the comment/joke involved Africans? If it would have been about French people or more likely Albanians would it still have been labeled racist (no).
To be racist the comment made needs to contain some kind of slur or put-down related to the person’s race – this joke just doesn’t have that.
To me it’s a political commentary on immigration.
We are too quick to label things racist. Racism is serious business – we shouldn’t trivialize it…
Errmm, she posted racist comments targeting Africans living in Greece, as well as retweeting comments from a far-right politician slating immigration.
THAT BE RACISM
Here is the joke:
Με τόσους Αφρικανούς στην Ελλάδα.. Τουλάχιστον τα κουνούπια του δυτικού Νείλου..θα τρώνε σπιτικό φαγητό!!!
and in English:
With so many Africans now in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes can eat homemade food!
What is racist about that? The joke is political, anti-immigration and in bad taste. However, that doesn’t make it racist.
In what way does this joke denigrate anyone’s race? It mentions race, but how does it denigrate it?
The joke is political – not racial.
We have to be very careful not to trivialize the very serious issue of racism.
You’re absolutely right Sivad (and Bleary).
This is a stupid knee-jerk over-reaction to a comment that is not “racist”, or at least no more racist than a lot of jokes humans make, especially on political subjects.
I have said far worse things myself. She’s just naive for putting it on twitter.
I think she probably is a bit of a shit (seriously, Golden Dawn?) but everyone calling for her blood is probably a hypocrite.
I agree wholeheartedly…
I hate it when every third act by anyone towards anyone of a different race is labeled racism. It’s ridiculous…
Racism is serious and should be fought off at every opportunity. Turning this into a racial argument is trivializing the real thing IMHO.
Being anti immigration (I am not) is not racist. It’s a legitimate political viewpoint.
She doesn’t dislike the immigrants because of the color of their skin, she dislikes them because they are stressing an already broken social system in Greece.
It’s Politics, not Racism….
er. no. it may not be ‘highly’ racist as you put it. but the joke is still racist, as it concerns a persons race. and yes, if it were about french or albanians it would still be racist, why wouldn’t it be? and no, it does not have to contain a slur or put down to be racist. i could make the most innocent comment about someone but if it were solely based on presumptions based on their race, it could be called racist. “The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race”. saying someone likes chicken isn’t a slur or put down. but if is say all black people love chicken, then that would be racist. and yes, it was deliberate. do you really think she accidentally typed the joke and posted it? maybe her fingers slipped on the keyboard and bam, whoops accidentally posted a racist joke!
{From yourt Post} Racism: “The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race.”
Her joke:
With so many Africans now in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes can eat homemade food!
Please explain to me how her joke fits your definition?
Also, mentioning someones race is not racism! That’s a very, very dangerous idea.
If I say, “Meet my friend John underneath the main departures board at the station. He’ll be easy to find because he is a 6’3″ tall dark skinned half black/half Asian chap.”
I am just describing John, my statement is in no way racist. NOBODY would argue that’s racist, yet I’ve mentioned his race and made assumptions about your assumptions of what his skin color would be.
Also, suppose you were faced with a group of five people, one black, two white and two Asian. If I came into the room and told you one of the patients had sickle-cell anemia and asked you to guess which one, you’d guess the black patient because there is a 99.9999999% probability he’s the guy carrying this particular genetic mutation. Even though you used his race to determine your answer, that act was certainly no ‘racist’.
We can’t be hysterical about these things. Racism is a serious issue.
Also, if you would consider a better term to describe her joke I’d suggest bigoted. It fits a lot better than racist and doesn’t muddy the waters.
Lastly, if her joke concerned French people or Albanians how in the world is that racist? Did I go to sleep and wake up in a world where being French or Albanian is a Race???
I think again you are looking for bigoted rather than racist. They are two very different things. Racism cannot be a catch all to silence legitimate discussion in regarde to very legitimate subjects such as immigration and social welfare.
If she did not mention africans specifically the joke would not work. hence the joke revolves around the persons race and assumed place of origin. she could have said chinese, but the joke wouldnt work. she is also insinuating that mozzies prefer africans as ‘food’. where your sickle cell anology is true, it is still racist. for example police are not allowed to stop black people more frequently because they are black even though statistically they have a higher % of criminal activity in certain areas. yes she’s bigoted. we can assume towards immigrants. but from that single joke, bigotry based on race is racist. French/albanian in a taxonomic sense, no. but general commonly accepted layman interpretation or race, yes. if i were to to on to the street and asked if it was racist to call all germans nazis, the answer would be ‘hell yes’ and not ‘germans are not a race’
We’ll agree to disagree. I get very prickley when ‘racism’ is used as a catch all for any behavior between two different groups of people.
I strongly disagree that there is a ‘layman['s]‘ interpretation of racism. Since there are very real laws on the books concerning racism and hate crimes then you have to have very SPECIFIC definitions, like the one you originally posted. Otherwise almost any altercation between two people could be boiled down to ‘racism’. I believe that there is a very real difference between bigoted behavior and racism and we should keep the two seperate.
All racism is bigoted behavior, but all bigoted behavior is not racism.
“We’ll agree to disagree. I get very prickley when ‘racism’ is used as a catch all for any behavior between two different groups of people.” – however the joke is clearly racist, targeting africans.
“I strongly disagree that there is a ‘layman['s]‘ interpretation of racism. Since there are very real laws” – im not disputing any lawful definition. but yes we’ll have to disagree on if theres a laymans interpretation. you should try my question out on people. ask it exactly as phrased “is it racist to call all germans nazis?” see how many people correct the definition of race as use in the question.
“… ask it exactly as phrased “is it racist to call all germans nazis?” see how many people correct the definition of race as use in the question.
- But this is my entire point. These people are wrong. They are confused or ignorant as to what is the difference between a bigot and a racist. It doesn’t do anybody any good to ‘dumb down’ one’s argument or vocabulary in order to enable ignorance. Racism has a definition, you gave a suitable one. Bigotry also has a definition. Lets call bigotry what it is and not confuse it with racism because that’s what the guy on the street would ignorantly call it. It’s lazy and imprecise and not suitable for real debate***.
*** I am not implying in the least that you are lazy or imprecise or ignorant of anything. Clearly you have decided to adopt the bastardized or venacular definition of racism and you have made it clear you understand the difference between the two. So no offence is intended and I hope it isn’t taken. We simply disagree.
i dont mind disagreeing. we are all entitled to opinion. however, you’re missing my point. i wasnt arguing whether they are wrong or not for their interpretation. im saying a laymans interpretation does exist. you stated ‘you strongly disagree there is a laymans interpretation’ yet contradict yourself with “These people are wrong. They are confused or ignorant as to what is the difference between a bigot and a racist” thus acknowledging an existence of a laymans interpretation.
“Clearly you have decided to adopt the bastardized definition” – i have not adopted the bastardized definition. i just acknowledge it exists and is commonly used rather than dismissing something that doesnt agree with me.
“Meet my friend John underneath the main departures board at the station. He’ll be easy to find because he is a 6’3″ tall dark skinned half black/half Asian chap.” just mentioning race is not racist. i assume he is not your friend because he is half black/half Asian chap, so no, this is not racist. mentioning race as some reasoning to some other statement is. what if you were a greek born african, would you still be yum yum home made food to those west nile mozzies.
There’s other athletic competitions she can enter and the olympics will return in 4 years. I fail to see how her life is ruined. Fair enough if part of her punishment was the removal of a leg, but this is just a single ban for a single competition.
Now she’ll always be “The racist Greek triple jumper”
And she might not qualify for the next Olympics.
I’m not an athlete but I’m always told competing in the Olympics is the pinnacle of a career.
I’d say that yeah, her life is currently ruined.
Doesn’t mean she can’t put it back together in the future.
But by definition if something is ruined – surely it can’t be repaired?
You can’t ruin someone’s life and then fix it again.
Otherwise it wasn’t ruined!
Not by my definition.
You can build something, it can be destroyed, you can rebuild.
I just googled a definition of Ruin & got-
“To have sex with another in such a manner so the partner is never quite the same. Emotional counseling is typically required after the fact.”
I think shes been roughly fucked but I wasn’t expecting that…
A bit like ‘Drug cheat Dwain Chambers’, who has a large number of medals from the european championships, indoor athletics and is representing GB in this years Olympics?
Yup, exactly.
Is it (unintentionally) racist if I say she doesn’t fit my image expectations of a Greek woman?
Absolutely. I hereby ban you from taking part in any Olympic events and strip you of your lucrative sponsorship deals.
Ha, the joke’s on you as I’ve only got highly unlucrative sponsorship deals (I pay to where the brands)!
*edit* wear (stupid no edit button facility)
The joke is racist, otherwise why state too that their are too many Africans in Greece, And that they are insect food. Stating that a country has too many Africans is wrong, AFC to this that she is a known supporter of a neo-nazi party, that target and victimise minority groups, especially in hard economic times, Hitler did the same. And has Greece got too many Africans? If so those poor fucks are probably the only people paying taxes in that ill fated country. Greece needs to wake up and Snell the coffee, their country is fucks and the indigenous population is at fault – if this poor girl wanted to be in the Olympics then maybe fairness and tolerance was the way to go. And nothing wrong in defending bigoted little shits like her, oh wait…
Mark,
Why is it wrong to say a country has too many immigrants, African or otherwise? Is one not allowed to hold a position on immigration in their country and how it is effecting the indigenous population?
I will state publicly that there are too many African immigrants/refugees in Malta as a direct result of broken EU Immigration policy. Does that make me a racist? (Answer: HELL No)
These poor people are held in what must be very similar to POW camps in horrid conditions. They are a strain on Malta’s limited resources and Malta should be able to remove them immediately for the good of the Maltese people and the immigrants. However Malta can’t because of insane EU immigration policy. Greece has similar issues as does Italy.
It is not the fault of this young girl that she is reacting to these issues given the acute crisis in her country.
The joke shouldn’t have been published on Twitter by and Olympic athlete, but in itself it also shouldn’t have cost her livelihood either. And I would argue aggressively that the joke was political and not racist. I also recognize that others may not see it that way (like my wife, who agrees with you) and I respect your views. However I’d urge you to try and understand this young woman and her situation before you rush to judgement.
Have a good day…
“I will state publicly that there are too many African immigrants/refugees in Malta as a direct result of broken EU Immigration policy. Does that make me a racist? (Answer: HELL No)”! – it doesnt make you a racist, but the statement is clearly racist. “there are too many immigrants” – not racist. “there are too many AFRICAN immigrants” – racist. You are singling out AFRICANS, as if it doesnt matter how many other immigrants there are, but there are too many AFRICANS!
There are other immigrant groups in Malta that aren’t sequestered in concentration camp like facilities. The immigrant/refugee group I am referring to are Africans. It would be imprecise and misleading not to say African immigrants in this case. There is no other way to describe the group that I am speaking of.
If speaking clearly and with precision specifically in order to avoid confusion is now racist – then the world has truely gone mad.
you see, after clarification in conjunction with additional statements the statement is in context may not be racist. the group may happen to all be africans. however the initial statement of just stating ‘there are too many africans immigrants’ i still stick by the opinion that if stated as is, is racist.
it all about the relevance of mentioning the race.
I haven’t seen the joke, unless I have and it wasn’t funny so I ignored it. However making a racist joke doesn’t make you racist, it’s just a joke and people make them all the time. Saying “I want to kill all blacks” and you mean it is being racist…
So dumb how someone can get banned, what a pussy state we live in.
I got to disagree, just a joke isn’t a defence. I don’t make racist jokes in my circles and nobody would find them funny. A classic racist slur joke is, What do you call a black man in a suit? The defendant. Now someone can make that joke, and say it is just a joke and a cowardly closet racist will laugh, why? Because in their eyes all black people are no good dirty criminals, the humour only exists as they see truth behind it. Fact is only racists make racist jokes, we can hide in the humour but it isn’t a defence. Saying you want to kill all blacks and meaning it is deeply racist, saying you want to kill all blacks and not meaning it is stupid, cowardly and dangerous. As it isn’t the intention but the translation – do others know it is a joke? like the unhinged guy sitting in the corner looking for an excuse to go out and kill someone – and he does kill a black man and that stupid joke was the trigger.
Like in the same way ‘pussy state’ is sexist, it may not be applied as such, but pussy is slang for a female sexual organ, and ‘pussy state’ is aimed at the state being weak and feeble, so directly stating that all woman are weak and feeble also.
I was only talking the other day to a guy that did some very racist things in is youth that he was ashamed at, he isn’t that person any more, the difference between being racist and not for him was growth and education.
It’s a crying shame when middle class white’s can be made the butt of every joke out there ie. ‘white men can’t jump’ ‘ White girls have no booty’ yet When someone makes even a comment against Africans they’re branded racist. Granted her comment wasn’t the smartest thing to say and not really that funny but should her dream be completely stripped away because of her poor judgement. I think this is truly excessive
I agree 100% tank…
Mark,
In your example, the joke is certainly racist. As you stated it implies all/most black people are criminals. So we agree that joke denigrates blacks by equating blacks with criminals and is 100% racist.
Unless you believe that implying someone MIGHT be bitten by mosquitos is denigrating then her joke doesn’t denigrate anyone. It implies that there are a lot of African immigrants in Greece. It makes no derogatory commentary regarding said immigrant’s race.
It is not racist to mention race or even single out a group who happen to be (mostly) the same race. It is only racist when you denigrate them and her joke does nothing of the sort. There is an African mosquito epidemic in Greece this summer, there are lots of African immigrants in Greece. She made a flippant joke about the mosquitos enjoying home cooking. HOW is that racist???
Here is the joke:
Με τόσους Αφρικανούς στην Ελλάδα.. Τουλάχιστον τα κουνούπια του δυτικού Νείλου..θα τρώνε σπιτικό φαγητό!!!
and in English:
With so many Africans now in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitoes can eat homemade food!
Personally I think the most offensive thing she has done was when she tweeted her support for that bell end from the Golden Dawn who punched that Greek female politician on live TV.
Well, now that she appears to be free for the next couple of weeks, I’m available to show her round my flat. Whoops-I mean London…….
Can’t say I share her sense of humor. She clearly has racially sensitive views given who she’s following on her twitter page. Anyone who unashamedly supports Golden Dawn should not be allowed to represent their country in any international competitions whatsoever. Seriously, she’s a public figure who supports a controversial and openly racist political party as well as supporting a man who attacked a woman on national television. It shows such a poor lack of judgement. I don’t blame her representatives for pulling her out of the games. The last thing Greece needs is for a Greek athlete to tweet something ridiculous whilst living in the athletes village with other nationalities.
Ilias Kasidiaris is the name of the chap who assaulted the two female Greek MP’s. After the incident she told him to ‘always be strong and true’ and made her message of support public. SO in a round about way you could say she’s advocating violence. As some people have mentioned on her FB page, she’s being revealed for who she truly is and what she truly stands for. I could forgive her joke and her re-tweets because she’s pretty pleasing to the eye and racist hotties are taboo territory for me, but her support for Golden Dawn cannot be forgiven.