Knock knock, Bony!
A few days ago, we posted a short video of Gabriel Medina dropping on someone at Lowers. We titled it, “Gabriel Medina Drops In, Forgets to Knock,” because he dropped in. With the video, we ran these words:
“Of course, there’s a chance the guy with the right-of-way wanted a party wave – (and if he didn’t, this is a blatant dick-move. And didja see him land on that other guy?), but we’ll let you decide.”
Turns out the guy he dropped in on actually DID want a party wave, so that’s fun. Party waves are the best, especially when you’re surfing below the number one ranked surfer in the world. Bony Silveira (the guy who loves party waves), wanted it to happen, and he told the folks over at Tracksmag about it.
“Yeah the media, they write some shit about Gabriel Medina,” he said. “They write some stuff about him dropping in; the surfer he dropped in on was me! You know, when the boys come to town for competition I want to give them all the waves. They are here to compete and to train. They are working. When I take off on that wave I see Gabriel there and I scream to him, ‘GO Gabe!’ because I want him to take the wave. He takes off and does this crazy turn right over my head. I put my hands up like I am taking a photograph, stoked for him, and I think he is going to go right over me. He got stuck at the top and then you see in the video, he got caught on my leash and fall off.”
So that clears it up. There was, in fact, a chance the guy he dropped in on wanted a party wave. Bony’s into sharing! Bony’s nice. Here’s the video, in case you’re too lazy to click on the link above:
So here’s what sucks. In posting that video, we noticed a lot of hatred. We got real hate mail! We got threats! Most of the hate directed towards two things: 1. us, for posting the video, and 2. Brazilians, for being in it. Both of those are dumb. I’ll tackle each one separately.
1. Us, for posting the video.
We would have posted the video if it were a Chilean, American, Canadian, Mexican, or Hungarian surfer. Along with that video, we’ve got things like Smashing the Brazilian Stereotype on the site. We’ve got things like The Harmful Misrepresentation of Brazilian Surfers on the site. We’ve got Junior Faria writing about surfing. We’ve also got things like Oh Brazil, Learn to Ride the Barrel and Kiwi vs. Brazilian: Is This the Worst Burn Ever?
We have all these things because they are all points of view. People have them, and we’re a platform for people to get them out there. Conversation is interesting. Entertainment in interesting. We didn’t post the video because Gabriel is Brazilian, we posted it because he’s a surfer.
2. Brazilians, for being in it.
People of all nationalities drop in on people. I’ve been burned by more Americans than any other nationality, and I dislike that one individual person for about two seconds, then get on with my day. I don’t hate Americans in general because Davey Drop In wants to wreck a wave for me. So if you’re one of those people that spews hatred in the comments section (I’m sure you’re not like that in real life) about how much you dislike Brazilians in general, then you, my friend, are a jerk. You can hate that one guy that burned you all you want, but until every single Brazilian on the planet has burned you, it is simply not alright for you to say you hate Brazilians. Ask your mom, she’ll tell you the same thing.
So, to wrap this up: To Bony and Gab, we’re sorry we titled the video like that. We assumed, and you know what they say about assuming: it makes an ass out of u and me. It’s awesome that you guys are party-waving together. High-fives. And to all the people that puke up an incredible amount of comment-board racist hate? So totally not awesome. You don’t get high-fives.
