A Greek academic local media describe as “professor” caused a social media outcry after describing National Basketball Association (NBA) sensation Giannis Antetokounmpo as “a black guy pretending to be Greek.” The man is reportedly employed at the University College of London.
Evangelos Markopoulos made his comment on Facebook in a post below a video showing Antetokounmpo – a Greek national – singing the Greek national anthem.
“We got the black who pretends to be Greek on our back, Enough. We don’t forget summer. He [vulgar word] all of us, the Greek National team, our flag.”
Markopoulos was referring to an incident in summer when the NBA and the Milwaukee Bucks did not allow Antetokounmpo to join the Greek National Basketball team.
After the outrage, Markopoulos posted again on Facebook claiming that his comment on Antetokounmpo was “taken out of context” of a discussion he had with a journalist.
“Greek is the one who shows his timeless love for the homeland,” Markopoulos wrote adding “we had and have many foreigners who honored our homeland and have a place in our hearts, like Batista and many others.”
He wrote further “the issue is not with foreigners who become Greeks, but with those who declare to be Greeks and refuse to serve their homeland when it calls them.”
He did not apologize, he just wondered why the outrage “when the issue drew sharp criticism in summer.”
In other words: the ‘professor’ who has left his troubled homeland he timelessly loves as a true Greek for an assignment abroad demands that foreigners who become Greeks do more than Greeks do.
Evangelos Markoupoulos is a Research Associate at the University College of London in Computer Science Department. I have no idea what he teaches to students but certainly he has still not learned that criticism is not equal to racism.
To me that seems very rude of this “Professor”. In the USA, and I imagine the UK, people can be fired for things of that nature in some cases. Let’s see how that plays out. For Mr.Martin Baldwin, is this the case in UK too?
Evangelos Markoupoulos…a white guy pretending to be Greek.
A stupid guy for sure, and he obviously knows nothing about the Antetokoumbo brothers (who even keep the greek spelling of their name, bless them) – but! – it is downright dangerous to fire or prosecute someone for (stupid or unpopular) opinions. That’s the thin edge of the wedge, a concept so called Social Justice Warriors can’t seem to comprehend.
Research Associate is a low status post well below professor, and probably does not entail teaching. I do not think he can, or should be, fired for making stupid remarks on topics outside of his area of expertise.
I was one of the academics who publicly denounced James Watson (Nobel Prizewinner for his work on DNA) prior to his tour of the UK about a decade ago because he abused his international prestige in making claims about race in genetics — claims that were in defiance of the scientific literature and based on his personal racist opinions. The public response in the UK and globally was such that it damaged him very badly — so much, that I actually feel sorry for him.
Many people show great ability in a specific area of knowledge, but behave like uneducated fools even in adjacent areas, let alone completely different topics. I think it is enough to denounce their opinions, and ask them to think again. Dismissing people for politically incorrect opinions is as bad as the original offence, in my view.
BTW, his name is Markopoulos, not Markoupoulos!