Can you say face palm?
Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri held an event entitled “Giants of Africa” to honor late great former South African president Nelson Mandela on the one-year anniversary of his death on Friday night.
Many big names like Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley attended the prestigious event, including those associated with the Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment organisation. This is where Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier comes in. He attended the event which is not the issue, but when interviewed on the red carpet about Mandela and his impact this is what he said. Tero the Terror provides the transcript because the video was deleted for obvious reasons.
Reporter1 (SportsNet mic): Alright Jonathan, how important is, uh, the legacy of Nelson Mandela to you?
JB: Well obviously he’s been, uh, a tremendous, uh, athlete and you know obviously what, uh, he means to all the sports you know when you know the worl- the world can uh be changed by the sports it’s pretty amazing. And I think he’s definitely uh got a lot of respect in every sports and uh he’s definitely one of the athletes I watched growing up as well.
Reporter1’s mic disappears from frame
Reporter2: Why is it important for you to come show support tonight?
JB: Well I think any good cause is, uh, sorry (he’s apologizing to someone to the left of the screen, not sure who/why), it’s always, uh, you know I love supporting, uh, any kind of cause obviously it’s for the Afri-, in Africa it’s obviously it’s, uh, a great cause, and enjoying, I guess, the basketball game.
Reporter2: Thanks.
Yikes.
I think we all know that athletes are asked to show up at all sorts of shindigs because their presence raises the status of said events but how do you not know who Nelson Mandela is? Maybe he was confused I don’t know but it’s going to be a while before he lives this down.