Jones caused an outcry when he sledged a group of animated Serbian supporters in a live broadcast, singing back at them, “Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out.”
He acknowledged the impact his comments had on Serbian fans and said he “overstepped the mark” with that last remark.
“Now I can stand here and put whatever spin I want on that, but it can only be interpreted as a throwback to the Covid years when he was kicked out [of Australia],” he said. “Now that that has angered Novak, which I completely understand now.
“They [the Serbian fans] come here with the flags and they provide so much colour and so much passion and there was banter, so I thought what I was doing was an extension of that banter. Quite clearly that hasn’t been interpreted that way. So I do feel as though I’ve let down the Serbian fans.”
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... 025-ntwnfb
The notion that someone claims to think they were amusing does not make “Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out” anything but incendiary abuse.
OED: "In recent use, the word is sometimes characterized as a means of justifying or excusing humour or behaviour considered boorish or chauvinistic".
OED 2012 quote: The comeback ‘oh, it's only banter’ has reverberated around the giggle-less void after so many rape jokes and domestic violence gags in the past few months. Independent 8 March 21/2
The word "banter" is currently the code-word of choice for metaphorically kneeing someone in the groin and walking away laughing, as in "Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out".
Banter is the one-word excuse for kicking off a fight after a night out drinking to excess. Every time it is used it immediately puts the prat using it in the wrong. It is a witless exercise of deliberate antagonism. It is not amusing even if it gets your mates to laugh along.