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Banana-tosser slips away with light fine, deemed not a hate crime

Philadelphia Flyers v New York Rangers

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 26: Wayne Simmonds #17 of the Philadelphia Flyers skates in warmups prior to the game against the New York Rangers while wearing his Winter Classis knit hat at Madison Square Garden on November 26, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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You may not remember the name Chris Moorhouse, but he’s the hockey fan who threw a banana at Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds during the shootout of a preseason game in London, Ontario.

Moorhouse was booked for his actions and while his defense was that he didn’t know it was a racist gesture, the courts in Ontario are letting him off lightly. Moorhouse was fined $200 for tossing the banana at Simmonds while he skated in on his shootout attempt against the Red Wings in September.

As The Globe And Mail notes, there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge Moorhouse with a hate crime despite the fact that it was very clearly a racial gesture. If Moorhouse was ignorant to that whole thing, it must be a wonderful world to live in where you just don’t know what anything means.