Bob Sapp vs Little Japanese Girls

Off Topic
41

[quote]TJN713 wrote:
The Sapp phenomenon has pretty much petered out over there by now. K-1 is pretty much just using him as a freak show attraction at this point (way more so than before, anyway.) The ratings for his recent NYE bout were surprisingly low.

Still, gotta hand it to the guy. He made a lot of bank during his run, and there is still some money to be made in Japanese Pro wrestling, as well as a rumored K-1 / WWE deal in the works.[/quote]

hell, that man even recorded a CD with the cover dressing like Michael Jackson and they actually sell enough to make money off it.

42

[quote]magyar wrote:
Strangly erotic, in an Asian sort of way.[/quote]

chasing bunch of cute girls around… it’s sure sounds like fun.

43

[quote]Professor X wrote:
TheBodyGuard wrote:
Uh, pacing in front of a cage at the zoo eating a banana? I’m shocked Prof X isn’t all over this man. Even as a white man I’m embarassed for him. He’s getting paid you say? So let me get this right…there are those of you who’d “put on 200 more lbs of muscle” and make a spectacle and fool of yourself for money?

Too bad money is so important…the man is a fool. Banana, zoo, cage…you gotta be kidding right?

Call me naive, but I suspect you can make money, “get asian poon tang”, and still have your dignity intact at the end of the day.

First, I can’t view the link from my current location so I have no idea what you are talking about. However, I do know that if the man was that concerned about being “degraded” at all, he probably wouldn’t be in Asia right now filling up his bank account. I am also sure that any big black man that gets off the plane over there will be met with much of the same looks and responses that he gets. That isn’t exactly new. What is new is him banking off of it. I will say my honest opinion is he is using their own biases and different customs against them if he is making as much as I suspect he is. [/quote]

Oh, OK, so there is no degredation if he’s making money? LOL. You’re lost. First, he’s clearly degrading himself. And if he makes money, and that justifies it for you, then I guess there is nothing left to discuss.

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[quote]barbos01 wrote:
I would caution TheBodyGuard to remember that racism and racial conflict in Japan in no way parallels racism in this country. In Japan racism is due to the xenophobic tendency in the Japanese culture. If they are laughing AT him(and I am not sure they are), it is because he is a foreigner. While you are no doubt sensitive to racism, to hold the Japanese to an American ideal is unreasonable. Within the frame of their history and culture they simply cannot understand it.[/quote]

Whether you have a point or not notwithstanding, I don’t believe my post referenced the Japanese at all; read it again. Sapp, the idiot sell out, IS NOT JAPANESE…and forgive me, but please, he IS aware of the connotation of pacing in front of a cage, eating a banana and otherwise acting a fucking idiot. The fact that money has been raised as an apparent justification for his foolery is just sad.

45

[quote]Professor X wrote:
LBRTRN wrote:
barbos01 wrote:
I would caution TheBodyGuard to remember that racism and racial conflict in Japan in no way parallels racism in this country. In Japan racism is due to the xenophobic tendency in the Japanese culture. If they are laughing AT him(and I am not sure they are), it is because he is a foreigner. While you are no doubt sensitive to racism, to hold the Japanese to an American ideal is unreasonable. Within the frame of their history and culture they simply cannot understand it.

Well, I’ve never been to Japan nor do I know any Japanese but my stepfather works for a major Japanese corporation and travels to Japan frequently and according to him, they are very racist. They frequently use the “n” word and other derogatory slures in reference to black people. Although, I don’t know if that applies to Sapp because celebrety does change the way people are viewed.

p.s. Sapp is a piss poor fighter. All he has is size.

That is exactly how many view the native Japanese response to blacks. That is why I feel if he can take them for all the money he can, more power to him. It isn’t like he is truly hurting race relations…because there were none to begin with. I haven’t seen the clip, however, and won’t be able to until much later on, but my guess is, if it were in America I would be much more offended simply because of the difference in perception of those involved.
[/quote]

I think most of you are giving way too much breadth to my post; I’m sorry for the man - I don’t care what culture he does it for and in what country he does it…the fact is, no self-respecting black man should be pacing in front of a cage, at a zoo, sans shirt, eating a banana and acting like a lunatic in exchange for “taking them for all he can get”. Money does not justify everything. I pity any of you whose pride and dignity have a price.

46

[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
Professor X wrote:
LBRTRN wrote:
barbos01 wrote:
I would caution TheBodyGuard to remember that racism and racial conflict in Japan in no way parallels racism in this country. In Japan racism is due to the xenophobic tendency in the Japanese culture. If they are laughing AT him(and I am not sure they are), it is because he is a foreigner. While you are no doubt sensitive to racism, to hold the Japanese to an American ideal is unreasonable. Within the frame of their history and culture they simply cannot understand it.

Well, I’ve never been to Japan nor do I know any Japanese but my stepfather works for a major Japanese corporation and travels to Japan frequently and according to him, they are very racist. They frequently use the “n” word and other derogatory slures in reference to black people. Although, I don’t know if that applies to Sapp because celebrety does change the way people are viewed.

p.s. Sapp is a piss poor fighter. All he has is size.

That is exactly how many view the native Japanese response to blacks. That is why I feel if he can take them for all the money he can, more power to him. It isn’t like he is truly hurting race relations…because there were none to begin with. I haven’t seen the clip, however, and won’t be able to until much later on, but my guess is, if it were in America I would be much more offended simply because of the difference in perception of those involved.

I think most of you are giving way too much breadth to my post; I’m sorry for the man - I don’t care what culture he does it for and in what country he does it…the fact is, no self-respecting black man should be pacing in front of a cage, at a zoo, sans shirt, eating a banana and acting like a lunatic in exchange for “taking them for all he can get”. Money does not justify everything. I pity any of you whose pride and dignity have a price.
[/quote]

I just watched the link. There is no way I would do that for money. He obviously doesn’t give a shit. What I do find amazing, however, is that if it were a white man doing it, he would NOT be compared to the entire white race or the civil rights movement or any other large racial event in history. He would simply be a guy who is doing degrading shit for pay in Japan. Because he is black, every black man in America is supposed to somehow become offended and feel as if he is setting us all back. Then some of you claim you don’t understand why race is still an issue? It is because most of you still make it one. Surprise.

Bob Sapp can do whatever the fuck Bob Sapp wants to do. Bob Sapp is not me or any other black man in this country. I personally wouldn’t be caught doing what did in that video for pay. I am sure that MOST black men wouldn’t do it, but then, most black men have not lived in Japan for long periods of time so I have no clue what his experiences have been or how well he gets along with the people there.

47

It didnt seem racist to me, just that these tiny japanese people were amazed at this athlete’s size. I saw the fight clip linked from this site, of sapp versus Crocop and cro cop is a big powerful guy but Sapp seemed like a monster compared to him so imagine how a smaller japanese would see him. The first time that i viewed it i noticed the banana thing but thought more about him being as big as an ape. but i respect those that are sensitive to racism and i understand that african americans may see things quite differently than me. I agree with X’s statement that it would certainly be racist if it was done in america i would be pissed.

I can understand how some black people would be offended at videos connecting a black guy with bananas and gorillas but these racist jokes are foreign to the mainstream japanese audience. Im sure that the average japanese viewer may know what a N word is but not a ignorant joke comparing blacks to apes.

When i saw it i was surprised by Sapp’s personality he seems like he’s pretty cool i bet he would make a cool actor like a funny vin diesel. I always thought sapp was a dumbass because of the way he fights, the way he just uses only his size and doesnt have any sense of strategy or skill or really have any decent moves but nontheless he is a funny guy.

48

Many Japanese aren’t even aware that Bob Sapp is a K-1 fighter. He’s more or less a comedic novelty act on Japanese television. Go watch “The Longest Yard” (the new one with Adam Sandler) - his “schtick” in that movie mimics how he markets himself in Japan.

49

[quote]zdrax wrote:
Many Japanese aren’t even aware that Bob Sapp is a K-1 fighter. He’s more or less a comedic novelty act on Japanese television. Go watch “The Longest Yard” (the new one with Adam Sandler) - his “schtick” in that movie mimics how he markets himself in Japan. [/quote]

…and taking offense to how he acted in that video amounts as much to taking offense at how he acted in that movie. I didn’t hear much in the way of his representation of the entire black race when he was in The Longest Yard. Why have the rules changed?

50

In defense of Mr. Sapp: If he were to do that for an American TV camera, it would be appallingly degrading. But, seeing as how he is doing this in Japan, I don’t think he is worried about it. The Japanese do not get it. In other words, the Japanese’ esteem of Sapp is not lowered by these antics.

To explain by analogy; say you are modest. You don’t like being naked, so certainly you would feel humilated at walking down Hollywood Blvd naked. But I am willing to wager money that after the initial shock wore off, you would not feel bad in the least being naked in a nudist camp. A nudist would not understand your problem with being naked, and a Japanese would not really understand an American black man’s discomfort at eating bananas in front of the monkey house. Sapp probably realizes they don’t get, and therefore has no problem acting the fool and taking their money.

51

i think many here need to understand the japanese sense of humor, odd to us as it is. a few years ago, mark kerr at 6’1" st thing to hit japanese professional fighting. the t shirt he was given to wear to the ring was his name with two cow-birds perched on top of the printout of his name. cow birds are the birds hyou see in all the nature documentaries, sitting on top of rhino’s, buffalos’s etc. eating insects off of them.

the point? they viewed mark kerr as a large mammal.

52

[quote]Donut62 wrote:
There are entire stores in Japan that sell only Bob Sapp merchandise and do crazy business. Being a huge, athletic bastard in Japan pays pretty well! Most of the other top heavyweights in Pride can handle him (Nog and CroCop beat him I think?), but he’s a pretty damn good K-1 fighter.[/quote]

yes crocop beat sapp in this clip…

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7410290088565904862&q=sapp

53

[quote]Professor X wrote:
spunky_kineto wrote:
barbos01 wrote:
I would caution TheBodyGuard to remember that racism and racial conflict in Japan in no way parallels racism in this country. In Japan racism is due to the xenophobic tendency in the Japanese culture. If they are laughing AT him(and I am not sure they are), it is because he is a foreigner. While you are no doubt sensitive to racism, to hold the Japanese to an American ideal is unreasonable. Within the frame of their history and culture they simply cannot understand it.

Laughing at him? Maybe. But not necessarily in a deregatory fashion - just at the sheer spectacle. I speak as a long-term student of both Japanese language and culture, and as someone who has co-habited with a Japanese girl (who wouldn’t tell her friends in Japan about me because, apparently, they would assume she was just using me for sex) when I say that their relationship with foreigners and foreign culture is complicated to say the least.

barbos01 is right, it’s not really racism - they don’t (in my experience) consider gaijin inferior so much as they consider themselves priviliged by dint of their Japanese-ness. Does anyone see what I’m getting at? I’m not terribly good at being concise.

If this is true then I simply have a lot to learn about Japanese perception. I am more than sure I am not alone.
[/quote]

The discussion seems to have moved away from the point I made, but Professor x has made such salient observations that I had to post again. In hindsight, I was guilty of gross oversimplification, by aiming for a level of concision not possible given the matter in hand.

I think all I was trying to say is that we can’t dismiss the Japanese attitude to non-Japanese as simple racism, as in doing so we transpose our own cultural values onto an alien context. A point The Professor made himself, I believe. The picture becomes more complex still when one considers differing generations and sexes. One thing though - ‘The defining characteristic of all Japanese is an inability to understand anything more than 10 miles from the coast of Japan.’ -Tibor Fischer

54

That is a valid argument. Foreigners, especially westerners, do stand out in Japan. I heard that people of middle eastern blood are the most feared and those of African blood are next. I often get weird looks and strange treatment, and I’m caucasian and living in Tokyo. It’s worse if you live in a rural area.

That being said, I don’t think the attitude towards Sapp is racist here. If anything, he stands out as a “wacky fighting foreigner” rather than a “black foreigner”.

His personality makes him stand out, for instance squeezing his scalp together and saying “melon pan” [google it if you’re curious]. I watched a Japanese show that was kind of like a cross between “American Gladiators” and “World’s Strongest Man” and the comments about Sapp were always “look how big/strong he is/he’s a monster [his nickname is “The Beast”]” and not once did race or even the fact that he’s a foreigner come into it.

Recently though Bobby Ologun is taking over as the “wacky gaijin fighter” because he speaks Japanese…Sapp still appears to speak very little. Ologun also gets away with speaking very rudely to people, maybe because he’s funny, maybe because he can kick the average salaryman’s ass.

55

[quote]spunky_kineto wrote:
One thing though - ‘The defining characteristic of all Japanese is an inability to understand anything more than 10 miles from the coast of Japan.’ -Tibor Fischer
[/quote]

Oh…so they’re just like our Conservatives in relation to the suburbs. Cool.

56

[quote]Professor X wrote:
zdrax wrote:
Many Japanese aren’t even aware that Bob Sapp is a K-1 fighter. He’s more or less a comedic novelty act on Japanese television. Go watch “The Longest Yard” (the new one with Adam Sandler) - his “schtick” in that movie mimics how he markets himself in Japan.

…and taking offense to how he acted in that video amounts as much to taking offense at how he acted in that movie. I didn’t hear much in the way of his representation of the entire black race when he was in The Longest Yard. Why have the rules changed?[/quote]

He is on a TV show playing a character.
No different than playing a character in a movie. It is up to him to determine if it’s degrading to himself and to turn it down if it is. “Bob Sapp the japanese odity” is the character he plays on stage. In this case his stage is all of Japan.

57

[quote]danreeves1973 wrote:
Thye must be paying the guy some serious money or else he is a rare individual who does not take himself seriously at all and is enjoying every second of his life.

[/quote]

I finally got to watch the entire clips and he IS having the time of his life. He does’t give a shit what the rest of the world thinks. He is obviously enjoying what he does. And it is some funny shit. Especially when he trashes the posters of his opponents.

58

[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
danreeves1973 wrote:
Thye must be paying the guy some serious money or else he is a rare individual who does not take himself seriously at all and is enjoying every second of his life.

I finally got to watch the entire clips and he IS having the time of his life. He does’t give a shit what the rest of the world thinks. He is obviously enjoying what he does. And it is some funny shit. Especially when he trashes the posters of his opponents. [/quote]

I agree with that. He looks like he is having a good time, and every interview I have read on him shows the same. I am sure he wishes it would last forever but it won’t.

While his fame is high, I hope he gets all from it that he can. I have no negative feelings towards the man at all. He was in the movie Elektra as well for those who care playing the character “Stone”.

59

Accurate perspective of what Japanese see as entertainment or humor. It’s “weird” or “odd” compared to the U.S., not necessarily racist, but definitely culturally different (wierd weird weird!). In Hawaii there are lots of Japanese channels and tourists here, we’ll watch this stuff and say, “the Japanese are so weird!”.

Anyway, if Bob Sapp wants to make BANK acting weird on weird shows in Japan, more power (and a bigger bank account) to him!!!

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
i think many here need to understand the japanese sense of humor, odd to us as it is. a few years ago, mark kerr at 6’1" st thing to hit japanese professional fighting. the t shirt he was given to wear to the ring was his name with two cow-birds perched on top of the printout of his name. cow birds are the birds hyou see in all the nature documentaries, sitting on top of rhino’s, buffalos’s etc. eating insects off of them.

the point? they viewed mark kerr as a large mammal. [/quote]

60

[quote]Professor X wrote:
spunky_kineto wrote:
One thing though - ‘The defining characteristic of all Japanese is an inability to understand anything more than 10 miles from the coast of Japan.’ -Tibor Fischer

Oh…so they’re just like our Conservatives in relation to the suburbs. Cool.[/quote]

LOL! Ouch, good one!