Cal basketball forward Fardaws Aimaq was seen confronting a fan that allegedly called him a terrorist during a game against UTEP on Monday.
Aimaq — a 6-foot-11 sixth-year transfer — climbed the bleachers at The Pavilion in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. and came face-to-face with the fan, according to a video his agent Daniel Poneman reposted on X, which showed his client waving his finger during the encounter.
“Do you want to talk?” Aimaq can be heard repeatedly saying.
Poneman said the fan, who has not been identified, “hurled racist insults all game” while Cal was competing at the SoCal Challenge.
“When he left Texas Tech, his DMs filled with horrible, unimaginable things from fans, and he didn’t react,” Poneman wrote referring to Aimaq. “This fan hurled racist insults all game, called him a terrorist and told him to leave the country.”
Aimaq played at Texas Tech in the 2022 season before he transferred to Cal.
“For context, Fardaws was born in Vancouver but his parents are from Afghanistan,” Poneman wrote in a separate post on X.
“His father fled Afghanistan as a 17 year old during wartime and was taken as a political prisoner in Pakistan, forced to survive in a 8×3 jail cell for months. His son realizes the American dream, and this is how Americans treat him.”
Cal men’s basketball head coach Mark Madsen said Aimaq was allegedly subjected to abhorrent and offensive comments from a fan — including being called a terrorist.”
In his postgame press conference, Madsen said they asked that the fan be banned from this venue and requested an investigation.
“That situation first of all, we stand with Fardaws,” Madsen said. “That should never ever be said to anyone in an athletic competition setting or any other setting.
“I obviously spoke to Fardaws, because you know 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 directly to the tournament, we asked that that fan be banned completely from this venue and we requested an investigation.”
Cal guard Jalen Cone showed support for Aimaq after the game and condemned the alleged language.
“I support him. Like I said, I stand with Fardaws, because the things that were said to him shouldn’t be said to anyone,” Cone said.
“Me personally I grew up, me and my family we don’t condone that. So just being [an] emotional support for him during that time and keeping him focused.
“I think he had a great game tonight with 23 [points] and 14 [rebounds]. That just shows who he is, how he can bounce back from adversity. He’s been doing it his whole life.”
The UTEP Miners beat the Cal Golden Bears, 75-72, for its first win over a Power Five conference team in three years to improve to 5-0 before losing to Bradley in the SoCal Challenge championship game on Wednesday night.
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