I was able to find the phrase being used innocently in Seinfeld, which lends some credence to the possibility of Packer not meaning it in that way.
That being said, I think regardless of Packer's thoughts when saying it, he should've realized how bad it sounded and he shouldn't have tried to brush it off as people being too sensitive.
There's just too much history of racists referring to black people as "monkeys" to use that phrase when there are so many other phrases that bring the same meaning across. He could've easily referred to Iverson as a "tough cookie" and it would've had the same meaning without the racial overlap.
_Retaliate_ t1_j684p1i wrote
Reply to comment by SamURLJackson in Legendary college basketball analyst Billy Packer, who called 34 Final Fours, dies at 82 by HeStoleMyBalloons
I was able to find the phrase being used innocently in Seinfeld, which lends some credence to the possibility of Packer not meaning it in that way.
That being said, I think regardless of Packer's thoughts when saying it, he should've realized how bad it sounded and he shouldn't have tried to brush it off as people being too sensitive.
There's just too much history of racists referring to black people as "monkeys" to use that phrase when there are so many other phrases that bring the same meaning across. He could've easily referred to Iverson as a "tough cookie" and it would've had the same meaning without the racial overlap.