He should never have thrown the banana. Bananas aren’t aerodynamic like boomerangs. They don’t come back.

The meaning of the throwing was disputed but the throwing itself wasn’t. Everyone had seen it. Even those who hadn’t been there had seen the endless replays. Better, in slow motion. Like those who used to argue between vinyl and live performance, those who saw it live argued with those who saw it immediately repeated.

But the meaning of the throwing was disputed. He said he was in a corner, standing on a chair under a low ceiling, and the banana was a nuisance. So he threw it to – to – the director. Others saw it as assault.

It was all there, captured on the silent cameras.

The director hadn’t been looking at the talent. The banana hit him just above the ear, on the line between the shaved and the bald. It didn’t knock his glasses off but knocked them slightly askew. It was more the surprise, the shock.

The video of what happened next went viral. Nobody had expected it or could explain it later. It affected so many people for so long.

He should never have thrown the banana. Reputations aren’t aerodynamic like boomerangs. Lives don’t come back.