‘Take it on the chin’: Mundine’s bizarre take on Leniu-Mam racism saga
Anthony Mundine has taken to social media to claim Spencer Leniu’s “monkey” remark to Broncos star Ezra Mam is “not racism”.
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Anthony Mundine has taken to social media to claim Spencer Leniu’s “monkey” remark to Broncos star Ezra Mam is “not racism”.
Leniu apologised to Mam when admitting Thursday that he directed the term at the Broncos playmaker during the Roosters win in Las Vegas.
In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday night, Mundine said Mam had to “take it on the chin”.
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“I just wanted to put my 2c piece about the Ezra Mam controversy … I mean, it ain’t racism,” Mundine said.
“When two brothers are brown or black fellas, you can slur each other, you call them a ‘black c’ or this and that, that’s what they are. It’s like African-American and another African-American calling each other the n-word.
“I think they toughen up in that sense. It’s not racism.
“A white fella saying it a black fella, that’s a different story. That’s a whole different kettle of fish. Then you can really say that’s blatant racism.
“But another black fella or brown fella saying it to another brown fella? Come on, bra.
“You’ve got to take it on the chin. That’s what we have done all our lives, growing up.”
Mundine walked away from the NRL during the 2000 season after a 134-game career to take up boxing, with racism that he endured during his time in rugby league as a reason why.
His opinion on the matter differs from the one held by Souths star Latrell Mitchell, who also took to Instagram on Thursday to applaud Mam for “calling racism out”.
“Standing up for what you believe in his the hardest thing you could ever do. You will either be hated or loved for doing it,” Mitchell’s post read.
Originally published as ‘Take it on the chin’: Mundine’s bizarre take on Leniu-Mam racism saga
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