On Monday night, Cal men’s basketball center Fardaws Aimaq went into the stands during the Golden Bears’ loss to UTEP to confront a fan who had verbally harassed him.
Aimaq is shown on a video posted to Twitter face-to-face with a fan for few seconds before removing himself from the situation.
Cal coach Mark Madsen said in a statement Wednesday night that Aimaq was on the receiving end of racist heckling, which included him being called a terrorist. The 6-foot-11 senior is Afghan by way of Vancouver.
“Throughout and after Monday’s game, Fardaws Aimaq was allegedly subjected to abhorrent and offensive comments from a fan — including being called a terrorist,” Madsen said in a statement. “I have asked the SoCal Challenge tournament director that a formal investigation be conducted and that this fan be barred from the premises.”
Aimaq is the son of Afghan refugees. This particularly moment in history — as the Israel-Hamas war persists — is precarious for Muslims in America. The FBI recently warned that “the volume and frequency of threats to Americans, especially those in the Jewish, Arab American, and Muslim communities in the United States, have increased, raising our concern that violent extremists and lone offenders motivated by or reacting to ongoing events could target these communities.”
Aimaq is in his first year at UC Berkeley, having transferred from Texas Tech.
“Fardaws and I had an important conversation today about how he needs to maintain his composure regardless of what takes place in a game or what is said to him directly,” Madsen said. “I am disturbed that Fardaws was allegedly on the receiving end of such language, and I’m disappointed that he confronted this fan in the stands. Fardaws understands my expectations for how he as a student-athlete conducts himself. The consequences related to this situation will be managed internally.”