I CARE - 'Not another darkie': Swedish sports journo

12.10.12

I CARE - News - Internet Centre Anti Racism Europe: A Swedish sports commentator has come under fire for referring to a football player as a “darkie” (svarting) during a live weekend radio broadcast; however he claims that he didn’t realize he was on air at the time.

8/10/2012- The reporter, 78-year-old Bo Hansson, did not regret his choice of words either, but was remorseful to learn that it made it to on to the Radiosporten broadcast. “I’m so old so I have a different background with these kinds of words. Blackie is not disparaging for me. I can say ‘yellow’ about a Chinese person, I could bloody well say 'whitey' too. For me, it’s mostly just a description,” he told the Aftonbladet newspaper. Furthermore, the commentator explained that he wasn’t aware that he was being recorded, as he was merely sitting next to another commentator and was picked up by the microphone. “I was speaking to myself in my corner. It wasn’t meant to go out. I had no idea that it was being transmitted.” When asked if he understood why there was a public backlash, Hansson responded affirmatively. “Yes, nowadays, it’s clearly very serious. For me it’s not really the same. And it definitely shouldn’t have gone out. I was just sitting and speaking for myself.”