An old interview with Heritier Lumumba - formerly known as Harry O'Brien - in the player profile section of the AFL Record has resurfaced, showing him nickname himself 'Chimp'.
Additionally, Lumumba answered โchimpanzeeโ to the question "if I were an animal, I'd be...", but did mention that his 'worst trait' was "I find it hard to say no."
The premiership defender's explosive racism claims on his former club have been much publicised, stating that he was nicknamed โChimp' and that the culture caused a negative impact on his mental health and wellbeing.
The Magpies commissioned an independent report in the fallout that found the club guilty of "systemic racism" and led to president Eddie McGuire's premature resignation on Tuesday after 22 years in the role.
All 150 AFL, AFLW and netballers from Collingwood released an apology letter later in response to the racism report.
But does this old interview from add a new twist to the saga?
The image was shared by former Geelong great and controversial media personality Sam Newman as well as Collingwood cheer squad icon Jeff "Joffa" Corfe.
What would you make of this? โYou Cannot Be Seriousโ, tomorrow podcast. Will discuss. pic.twitter.com/4shxbRNVXI
— Sam Newman (@Origsmartassam) February 9, 2021
โ Joffa Corfe (@JCorfe) February 9, 2021
It comes after ex-teammate Simon Buckley, who played 26 games for Collingwood from 2010-2012, hit out at Lumumba last week on social media in response to former Magpie Shae McNamera's post, stating: โHe made the nickname up for himself,โ Buckley wrote on Facebook.
โHe was all for it when he was winning flags and playing well. He would refer to himself as chimp. He all of a sudden 10 years later wants to be a humanitarian.
โHe never complained when he was winning flags and getting a kick himself and calling himself that name. Now all of a sudden he's out of the media and wants to be back in the limelight and get a few bucks. Weak as piss.
โIf he wanted to preach about racism, he shoulda called it out at the time and not run with it and calling himself that for a laugh.โ
McNamara responded by saying Buckley was missing the point, declaring "s**t needs to change systematically".
โBrother he's a black man in Australia โ he got it all the time,โ McNamara said.
โYou can't risk losing good stead โฆ what happened in '13.
โS**t needs to change โ systemically. And now he's been defamed โ ask Leon (Davis) and they how their experiences were. Come on now.โ
However, Buckley, who is Indigenous, said Lumumba's and Davis' situations aren't comparable.
โI agree with Leon and all indigenous people. And love them for it,โ Buckley wrote.
โHarry has nothing to do with that. He's Brazilian. And if he cared soo much, he wouldn't have made the name up for himself.โ
Lumumba later responded to Buckley's comments, saying the nickname was not the worst of the racism he faced.
โAs I have consistently stated over the past 4 year, the nickname โChimp' began in 2005, during the pre-season and, no, I did not make it up myself," he said.
โDespite the nickname being overtly racist, unfortunately, it was not the worst facet of the interpersonal racism that I encountered during my 10 years at CFC. Within 2 months of me being at the club, I had already been exposed to a culture where racist ideas, in the form of jokes, stereotypes and direct abuse was prevalent.
The 223-gamer changed his name from O'Brien back to Lumumba in 2013, citing his journey ofย decolonisation.
During his resignation speech yesterday McGuire saidย that Collingwood was โnot racist a clubโ, highlighting all its Indigenous initiatives, but apologised for any previous harm caused.
โThis is why I say we are not a racist club,โ he said.
โWe haven't always got it right and for that we are sorry.โ
