monkey chanting

{{Short description|Imitating monkey sounds to intimidate black people}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{other uses|Monkey chant (disambiguation)}}

Monkey chanting is the making of calls aimed at ridiculing or denigrating Black sportspeople, usually footballers, who play in majority-White countries. The chants are intended to imitate the noises of monkeys or apes, and may be accompanied by gestures in imitation of the scratching of the armpits commonly seen amongst ape species.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/29/football-fan-72-convicted-monkey-gestures-black-players|title=Football fan, 72, convicted of making 'monkey' gestures at black players|work=The Guardian|date=29 July 2015|accessdate=11 June 2021}} The chants are expressive of the ethnic slurs "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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7p6TDR1zwcC&pg=RA2-PA25|title=Hate Crimes|isbn=978-0-275-99569-0|last1=Perry|first1=Barbara|year=2009}}[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-conversation-africa/comparing-black-people-to_b_9345322.html "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 and racism in cricket.