There is a long racist history of describing people of African descent as being more like monkeys than humans, and due to the assumption in popular culture that monkeys like bananas, bananas have been used in symbolic acts of hate speech.[150][151]

Particularly in Europe, bananas have long been commonly thrown at black footballers by racist spectators.[152] In April 2014, during a match at Villarreal's stadium, El Madrigal, Dani Alves was targeted by Villareal supporter David Campaya Lleo, who threw a banana at him.[153] Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and took a bite, and the meme went viral on social media in support of him.[154] Racist taunts are an ongoing problem in football.[155][156] Bananas were hung from nooses around the campus of American University in May 2017 after the student body elected its first black woman student government president.[157]

"Banana" is also a slur aimed at some Asian people, that are said to be "yellow on the outside, white on the inside".[158] Used primarily by East or Southeast Asians for other East/Southeast Asians or Asian Americans who are perceived as assimilated into mainstream American culture.