Malice in the Palace: The Incident

Media combined with sports functions as a hybrid institution wherein sports media advances social norms, values, and beliefs about race and ethnicity with the potential to reach numerous people while simultaneously priming audience attitudes about race and ethnicity. This article examines the explosion of public commentary around the “Malice in the Palace,” a fight caught on television between a Black NBA player and White fans on the evening of November 19, 2004. In particular, the article examines how the event was situated as a symbol of moral and civil deterioration provoked by racial and class tensions, with particular focus on how prevailing sociopolitical norms in the United States (US) framed the Black male body as criminal. This study examined newspaper sports commentary the week following the brawl to assess the dominant racialized ideologies associated with the Black NBA player.