My friend Kari wrote in a recent letter about Bob Sapp, an American fighter in Japan who was depicted in adds eating bananas. Sapp, of course, is black. Is this racist? Probably. But according to this blurb from Giant Robot magazine, the racism is a clever ploy by Sapp:

Bob Sapp - Standing at a mere 6'2" but weighing nearly 400 pounds, the ex-NFL player has become an overnight sensation in the Pride and K1 fighting tournaments. Fighting in the standard stand-up-and-punch and ground-and-pound styles, he's become a crowd favourite by playing up black stereotypes, calling himself "Silverback" and eating bananas in a cage. Go figure. Now he's one of the hottest pitchmen in commercials and print adds all over Japan. He even has his own rubber mask! He should be ashamed for being a Tom, but watch out for him as a champion fighter someday.

If a Chinese fighter wore buckteeth and a pigtail, I would think he's a fucking idiot, but I'm not sure I'd care about the "racism."