Brazil's Forward Richarlison de Andrade Faces Racial Abuse As Banana Is Thrown At Him After 5-1 Win Over Tunisia

Brazilian football player Richarlison de Andrade unleashed much anger over what supposedly appears to be a display of “racism and prejudice” on Tuesday night when a banana was thrown at him from the stands after Brazil’s 5-1 victory in a friendly match against Tunisia in Paris. Tottenham’s forward was celebrating his 2-goal contribution to the Brazilian team when several objects were thrown onto the playing field, including what looked like a banana.

Footage that was released showed Brazil midfielder Frederico Rodriguez de Paula Santos kicking the banana away as other objects were continuously thrown onto the field. The incident provoked de Andrade into a fury as he took to Twitter, challenging authorities to tackle the supposed issue of “racism” the team experienced during the match. He lashed out at responsible parties via his social media account saying that as long as the authorities stay “blah blah blah” and do not “punish” those responsible, such incidents will continue on the playing field and other places. He also retweeted the support he received from clubs and associations in Brazil, such as Atletico Mineiro, Fluminese, and America.

Reports from Al Jazeera say the Tunisian Football Federation or FTF expressed disdain and “strongly condemns” any act of racial prejudice in the stadiums, however, they could not confirm whether a Tunisia fan had thrown the banana. The Brazillian Football Confederation (CBF) tweeted that the banana had indeed been thrown in the direction of de Andrade, with a photo of the banana lying on the touch-line. The CBF reaffirmed its stance against acts of racism and prejudice against its players. Ednaldo Rodrigues, head of the CBF, said he was shocked by the incident and demanded stricter measures to be placed to combat the issue of racism.

A second football player from the Brazilian team supposedly experienced a similar reception from the crowd as boos and missiles were thrown at him after bowing during the celebration. The team’s captain, Thiago Silva remarked it is hard to change people’s mentality, adding that racial prejudice is a thing of the past and change must be implemented, but people’s mentality makes the movement difficult.

The FTF said its fans behaved in a respectable manner, remarking that if a fan was responsible for throwing the banana, the FTF apologizes on his behalf and on the behalf of Tunisia.