Monkey chanting or monkey chants are chants or calls aimed at ridiculing or denigrating

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

sportspeople, usually

footballers A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who play in majority-White countries. The chants are intended to imitate "monkey" or "

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister ...

" noises. They may be accompanied by "monkey gestures", in imitation of the scratching of the armpits commonly seen amongst ape species. The chants are expressive of the

ethnic slurs The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

" macaca" and "monkey" against people of African heritage. Monkey chants may also be accompanied by throwing so-called "monkey food" (peanuts, bananas or banana skins) at black players or onto the sports field."Comparing Black People to Monkeys has a Long, Dark Simian History"
'' Huffington Post'', Wulf D. Hund, University of Hamburg, Charles W Mills, Northwestern University A number of incidents of this kind have been noted by media as manifestations of

racism in association football Racism in association football is the abuse of players, officials, and fans because of their skin colour, nationality, or ethnicity. Some may also be targeted because of their association with an opposing team. However, there have been instances ...

and racism in cricket.

References

{{reflist Anti-African and anti-black slurs Racism in sport Football songs and chants Apes in popular culture Monkeys in popular culture

See also

References