Did you see that soccer player eat that banana that guy threw on the field, I thought that was pretty sweet.

Did you see that soccer player eat that banana that guy threw on the field, I thought that was pretty sweet.

Much of the anti-Black ape association was directed toward Black celebrities, especially athletes, and it was often done outside of mainstream pop culture. Jackie Robinson, famous for integrating major league baseball in 1947, often was the victim of racial taunts. In one incident, visiting Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky mocked an injured Robinson by performing a limping ape routine in the visitors dug-out. He grunted, hooted and scratched his armpits. Such epithets directed against standout Black athletes were still happening late into the century. A 1983 Time magazine article describes how then Georgetown basketball standout Patrick Ewing was often confronted by fans of the opposing teams who waved ape banners and threw bananas on the floor.