The poker player who was the target of racist abuse in an Oregon cardroom this week has told PokerTube the incident was the worst he has ever encountered at a poker table.
We have also obtained footage of the same culprit launching a foul-mouthed sexist tirade against a female poker player, after which he aggressively challenges another player to fight.
(NSFW)
Will Butler, seen on the left throughout the video, was the initial target of the reportedly self-proclaimed Nazi, Ricky Forbito, who launched the prolonged racist verbal assault.
Butler told us:
“I’ve experienced racism more times than I can count but never at a poker table. Maybe micro aggressions but never anything like this”.
He explained the background to the disturbing incident in a series of FB posts, including that he was initially siding with Forbito, but the racist thug turned on him shouting:
“Shut up nigger”.
That racist insult was thrown about a dozen more times over what ensued, Forbito’s anger turning from Butler to another black poker player who tried to intervene, as well as the floor manager, before returning with another volley against Butler.
Butler says of the thug, who has since reportedly been banned from Chinook Winds Casino:
“I think these types of people are emboldened because they are around people that look like them. It also doesn’t help that no one stood up for me until I decided to stand up for myself. I get it can be scary and uncomfortable to stand up for someone but it pales in comparison to what the person being offended is feeling. And I think it’s even more important when it comes to race. Because had this been a situation where a woman was being berated and called out her name it wouldn’t have lasted more than a minute.”
Racist, sexist and violent
As we reported earlier this week, Forbito was filmed launching a barrage of mysoginistic insults at a female player in another casino.
In that incident a woman is called a “c**t” and a “w**re” among other unsavoury things, and Forbito describes himself as a “f***ing Nazi”.
(NSFW)
This earlier incident, at the Final Table Poker Room in Portland, Oregon, saw Forbito banned, and sources claim he has also been banned from The Last Frontier Casino in La Center, Washington
Call to boycott Chinook Winds Casino
Butler said of the racist attack at Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon: “Initially I just wanted a genuine apology”, but now he and others are calling for a boycott of the venue, extremely unhappy at how the casino has handled matters.
Jacki Burkhart, who was at the casino during another racially-charged incident at the same cardroom the previous evening – when ‘racist comments about an Asian female player’ were made - spoke up in support of Butler and others players who have been racially-abused.
Incredibly, it seems the casino was apparently prepared to allow the openly and aggressively-racist Forbito to continue playing – something that any decent-minded person in the poker community, and beyond, would find outrageous.
It took them 4 days to contact Butler, one of the main victims of the abuse. The casino has also failed to respond to questions asked by PokerTube about their security team’s response and overall handling of the situation.
(Just as PokerTube were going to press with this story, the casino finally made a statement on the incident…)
...and Butler was quick to respond and clarify what it took for the casino to act:
“Yall removed him after I confronted mgmt about why he was being allowed to stay. Otherwise he would of still been there.”
The Twitter poker community has been much in evidence since the racist verbal assault went viral, some commenting on the casino’s duty of care…
…while others were simply dismayed at the vitriolic racism and the response of fellow players’ as it happened…
Poker pro and Thirst Lounge streamer Ebony Kenney had an answer for how to react when you see or hear racist behaviour in the cardroom…