Sillakh said he had to fight as a kid because he was called n****r

[PainfromUkraine]

I'll try to find the full HBO coverage and upload it on youtube. I remember he said "They called me n****r and I said what? Who's n****r?"

Let's replace it with black.

"They called me black and I said what? Who's black?"

Does that make sense to you? Unless Ismayl was color blind or something.

I get what you mean, but what I'm saying is, the word remains, just the meaning is different than what people in the West see it as - the kids would be saying the word which would sound offensive I assume to Sillakh (probably his father told him that the word wasn't good or is offensive to him). 'Nyegr' and 'Knee-gear' are two variations, similar to in English, I see for some reason to some people 'ni-gga' is acceptable but 'n****r' is not at all, similarly here - the first would be just a word for 'black person' or even as a term of endearment - of course when it's coming from the opposite race it may seem offensive or hypocritical.

In my personal situation, although I understand why people I know and even family who have always lived in Ukraine and use that word, I understand it's part of the culture and they aren't intending it in a derogatory way, but I personally don't use it as I was brought up in the West and it really depends where you grow up, having been brought up on this culture I do sort of cringe when I hear it cos I always think of the negative connotations it can bring.

BTW, I do vaguely remember the 'interview' but it was really just a 30 second feature before the fight if I recall, not really an in-depth thing that can be truly analysed.

[DoktorSleepless]

[CTC JOHNNY]

Shut the **** up.

WHY should the guy shut the F up

[Grimgash]

Again, people focusing on one specific word and miss the bigger point.

As the Russian speakers on this site keep saying, Kovalev saying this word doesn't carry the connotations it does in English-speaking countries.

However, what is troubling is most of the rest of what he said - which, if translated correctly, showed him to have a negative attitude towards black people. I wish it was in English, so I could understand it and try to make sense of his intentions. But translated, it doesn't look good at all.

If he said ****** or not it is what it is...but I've read the translation and like you said if it's correct....it's pretty absurd and boldly racist. I don't know if people posting think he only said ******....if you do think that...please go listen/read the interview and judge for yourself....

[4Corners]

Lol seriously? Yes they do. They phrase African American was created to replace black because people were offended, even tho most blacks in the US have no relationship with africa

Priceless. A white guy telling us, or black people, what is or isn't offensive.

[Mr. Philadel]

Priceless. A white guy telling us, or black people, what is or isn't offensive.

Gotta spread the green before I can hit you with the rep....you nailed it my dude!!!!

[nubian]

It's amazing the extents that people will go to rationalise what is pretty clearly racism. It's amazing that people have gone so far as to essentially say, well everyone is racist in Russia so it's not really racism. What absolute nonsense. Just because your a fan of this guys fighting skills does not mean you should ok his ignorant racist comments and that's what is going on here. And when he mentions tanned people don't think he isn't talking about Mexicans and Puerto Ricans also because he is.

[Levity]

And when he said it, he stated it with the "er" at the end. He didn't say "negro" or even ni88a, so it was definitely a racial slur. Why else would he get into fights?

I've heard several blacks use the 'er' version as a term of endearment. Many people don't make a semantic distinction between n igga and n igger.

[Levity]

Priceless. A white guy telling us, or black people, what is or isn't offensive.

While I can't speak to whether 'black' was considered offensive, I don't think being white precludes someone from knowing if that was generally how the term was viewed by those whom it was applied. Much the information that allows people to reasonably conclude that something is or was the case is available in various books and writings that people of any skin color can read.

[thuggery]

Kovalev got you dudes mad as hell

War Kovalev