Entertainment
Have I Got News For You causes controversy with tweet saying all football fans are racist
Have I Got News For You causes controversy with tweet (Picture: BBC)
TV news show Have I Got News For You has caused controversy with a tweet that equates the majority of football fans with being racists.
Footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received a torrid of racist abuse after missing their penalties during the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
The players were bombarded with abhorrent slurs and monkey and banana emojis on social media, and the messages have been widely condemned by politicians, footballers and celebrities across the board.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced that the Government is changing the football banning order regime to cover online racism.
While this is a move in the right direction, the people behind the Have I Got News For You Twitter account used this opportunity to slam football fans.
Someone posted: ‘Amid calls to ban racist football fans from grounds indefinitely, clubs argue they’d struggle to survive with attendances of 12.’
Boris Johnson has changed the football banning order regime (Picture: PMQs)
This didn’t bode well with their followers, as people flooded to the post to share their thoughts.
Many said the producers were being hypocritical, as viewers pointed out that Mr Johnson – who has been widely criticised for previously ‘fuelling’ racist behaviour by calling Black people ‘picaninnies with watermelon smiles’ – was once on the show.
The programme has also had the likes of Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris as guests.
One person commented on their tweet saying: ‘Not all people who go to football are racists. Not all people who go to football are white. Of course racists come to games, & are disgusting & should always be challenged. But it’s not more prevalent there than in the rest of society. And possibly less so than in the government.’
Another said: ‘Standard BBC sneering at British working-class people once again. People are responding by ripping up their tv license.’
‘This tweet obviously by some posh privately educated London type who has never been to a football match,’ another Twitter user wrote.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised Mr Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel after Mr JOhnson announced the ban.
Mr Starmer pointed out that the pair had previously refused to condemn fans who booed footballers for taking the knee during the tournament.
He told the Commons: ‘I’m so proud of this young, diverse and humble team and everything that it represents. They’re the very best of modern Britain, everything that I know this country can be.
‘Does the Prime Minister think that it was wrong to criticise the England team’s decision to oppose racism by taking the knee as gesture politics?’
More: BBC
Mr Johnson appeared flustered as he said: ‘I want to thank each and every one of them for what they did, their incredible campaign they ran in the Euro 2020 championships, and they do represent the very best of our country, nobody defends booing the England side.’
But when asked during the tournament about the booing of players before England’s match against Romania, the PM’s spokesman said he ‘fully respects the right of those who choose to peacefully protest and make their feelings known’.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to the BBC for comment.
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