Cops arrest soccer fan accused of racist banana-throwing
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The soccer fan suspected of throwing a banana at Barcelona defender Dani Alves has been arrested. BBC News reports that Spanish police detained a 26-year-old male who is a fan of the opposing team, Villarreal CF. The club also pulled the man's season tickets and placed a lifetime ban on him.
The Brazilian-born Alves, who has been the victim of racist taunts for years, picked up the banana and ate it — a much-praised reaction that garnered worldwide attention. After Sunday's game, Alves admitted he wasn't outraged by the incident, saying, "You have to take it with a dose of humor. We aren't going to change things easily."
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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