On Monday at the men’s basketball SoCal Challenge Holiday Tournament, the California Golden Bears lost 75-72 to the UTEP Miners. After that game, video of Aimaq climbing into the stands and verbally confronting a fan went viral. But on Wednesday, both Aimaq’s agent Daniel Poneman and Cal coach Mark Madsen discussed what led to that, saying the fan called Aimaq “a terrorist.” Here’s how Poneman discussed this on Twitter:
Fardaws is a gentle, kind hearted person. When he left Texas Tech, his DMs filled with horrible, unimaginable things from fans, and he didn’t react. This fan hurled racist insults all game, called him a terrorist and told him to leave the country. I would never encourage a player… https://t.co/fczZMlzynw pic.twitter.com/tXT9rmOTy4
— Daniel Poneman (@DanielPoneman) November 23, 2023
I have clients receive death threats in their inbox when they lose a game or fail to cover the spread. Have to deal with fans calling them the N-word or worse. When will our society stop thinking this is acceptable behavior? Athletes shouldn’t have to confront them. Other fans…
— Daniel Poneman (@DanielPoneman) November 23, 2023
Fardaws Aimaq is the sweetest guy in the world, never heard of him throwing a punch or harming a fly. But now people are making him out to be a thug because he finally spoke up, after years of this kind of abuse. The reactions always go viral, but the cause never gets addressed.
— Daniel Poneman (@DanielPoneman) November 23, 2023
Aimaq’s father weighed in as well:
Yessir my son is good person I proud of him proud of him because when I met family friends they tell me how is your son doing everyone in my family and all my friends love him he is not terrorist we are not terrorist hard for me and my wife and my family and my friends love ❤️
— Faramarz Aimaq (@AimaqFaramarz) November 23, 2023
And here’s a statement Madsen issued to reporters on this Wednesday:
— Cal Basketball (@CalMBBall) November 23, 2023
After Cal’s loss to the Tulane Green Wave in the tournament third-place game Wednesday, Madsen discussed this more, saying “We stand with Farhaws”:
Cal head coach Mark Madsen comments on the situation that took place Monday night with Bears big man Fardaws Aimaq allegedly being heckled and called a “terrorist” by a fan in attendance at the SoCal Challenge. Aimaq had 23 points and 14 rebounds tonight. @CalRivals pic.twitter.com/3DK82zkx18
— Matt Moreno (@MattRMoreno) November 23, 2023
“We stand with Farhaws. That should never, ever be said to anyone, in an athletic competition setting or any other setting. You know, I also obviously spoke to Farhaws because from personal experience in the NBA, typically, good things do not happen when a player goes into the stands to confront a situation. So I spoke to him about that. But the main message was ‘I’m sorry that you had to experience that, I’m sorry that happened.’ We went to the directors of the tournament, we requested that the fan be banned from the venue, and we requested an investigation into the matter.”
Teammate Jalen Cone also spoke up on this, saying “The things that were said to him shouldn’t be said to anyone.”
Cal guard Jalen Cone talks about his support for teammate Fardaws Aimaq who went into the stands after Monday night’s game when he was taunted by a fan with racial comments. pic.twitter.com/wOdEYmMNrt
— Cal Rivals (@CalRivals) November 23, 2023
Aimaq was born in Canada, but his parents are from Afghanistan. He is in his first year with the Golden Bears. He started his college career at Mercer in 2018-19, then transferred to Utah Valley, playing under Madsen there from 2019-22. After he won the WAC player of the year award in 2021-22, averaging 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game, he transferred to Texas Tech.
Following one season with the Red Raiders, Aimaq headed to Cal to reunite with Madsen, who was hired as head coach there in March. In five games with the Golden Bears so far, he’s averaging 16.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Hopefully he won’t have to confront a situation like this again.
