Do Not Like

[Content Note: Racism; antisemitism; racist imagery, including blackface, at link.]

If you were watching the Ghana vs. Germany World Cup match on Saturday, at least the US broadcast, you might have seen a man run onto the field and remove his shirt, before the cameras cut away and the announcers hemmed and hawed and failed to explain what was happening.

What was happening, via Grace, was a white male white supremacist spectator had taken to the pitch to reveal antisemitic and racist writing all over his torso.

During the actual match, however, I was totally confused as to what was happening. Iain's and my best guess was that he was a streaker. Because they never explained why they were cutting away during the broadcast.

Now, I can understand why they might not want to give this guy airtime, and why they might not want to let a camera linger on someone sporting hateful symbols that might trigger audience members, but to not even give a basic explanation, like "There's someone with racist writing on his body on the pitch," is to oblige us to pretend it didn't happen.

And there's not a small dose of "We wouldn't want to make white viewers uncomfortable by talking about white supremacy" in that silence, too.

Do not like.

There has been a lot of racism at this World Cup, and, yes, it's horrible. But not talking about it isn't any way to address it.