Oh Dear A Racist Slur And How Dare He On The Eve Of Hillsborough?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4412846/Sun-columnist-Kelvin-MacKenzie-suspended.html

This is what Kelvin MacKenzie wrote:

"Perhaps unfairly, I have always judged Ross Barkley as one of our dimmest footballers".

"There is something about the lack of reflection in his eyes which makes me certain not only are the lights not on, there is definitely nobody at home".

"I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo. The physique is magnificent but it's the eyes that tell the story".

"So it came as no surprise to me that the Everton star copped a nasty right-hander in a nightclub for allegedly eyeing up an attractive young lady who, as they say, was 'spoken for".

"The reality is that at £60,000 a week and being both thick and single, he is an attractive catch in the Liverpool area, where the only men with similar pay packets are drug dealers and therefore not at nightclubs, as they are often guests of Her Majesty"

Maybe a little insulting not only to the footballer, but also towards the folk of Liverpool but racist???? No way.

[mushroom25]

it went right over my head too. but then, until I read the righteously indignant mayor of Liverpool's response, I had no idea ross barkley was "mixed race" - there's no obvious hint in photos of him....

[Togo]

You'd be a bit upset if you were a Gorilla though. A definite slight on the noble beast.

[Jackdaw33]

Ridiculous over-reaction. I think it's quite funny. Of course, as we know, Liverpool and the Sun are not exactly the best of friends.

[douglas9401]

It's just Kelvin being Kelvin as somebody nearly said once.

He is a bit of a mouth on a stick. Can't help himself.

[Baldric]

///MacKenzie was 'racist' towards Barkley who has a Nigerian grandfather///

[pixie374]

Nothing to do with race- he explained what he meant by it.

[anotheoldgit]

Baldric

///MacKenzie was 'racist' towards Barkley who has a Nigerian grandfather///

A Nigerian Grandfather no less, I am sure everyone would know that?

*** But MacKenzie, 70, tonight hit back saying he did not know about Barkley's family background ***

[anneasquith]

Kelvin is suspended........give him time for reflection .

[-Talbot-]

I can see MacKenzie'S comparison with a gorilla and Barkley and it has everything to do with the eyes and not his background.

I have myself asked a mate if he is part gorilla for the same reason. (he's white, all white ... no black ancestry)

[-Talbot-]

What exactly do you think he should be reflecting on, anne?

[Jackdaw33]

Was MacKenzie not at one time editor of the Sun, or am I thinking of someone else?

[Togo]

Will he be reflecting on the hair trigger reactions of the willingly "offended" perhaps? Note Barkley seems not to have reacted mind. Just the perpetually alert virtue signallers.

[anotheoldgit]

I suppose it is racist to call certain children "You Little Monkeys".

[goodgoalie]

Yes, Jack, he was. Responsible for the infamous 'Gotcha' headline when The Belgrano was sunk

[pixie374]

I really hope not, aog- my granddaughter is part Jamaican and I called her a monkey the other day... should I hand myself in?

[Sqad]

"There is something about the lack of reflection in his eyes which makes me certain not only are the lights not on, there is definitely nobody at home".

Absolutely spot on.

"I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo. The physique is magnificent but it's the eyes that tell the story".

Quite correct.

I suppose one shouldn't be surprised on investigation to find mixed parentage. Certainly not a racist piece of journalism.

[Jackdaw33]

Imagine if he'd been writing about Diane Abbott instead of a footballer...

[anotheoldgit]

goodgoalie

Infamous headline?????

I wonder what some would have thought about some of the headlines during WW2?

/// A news agency reported that the General Belgrano had been hit. Wendy Henry shouted "Gotcha!", not as a suggested headline but as a spontaneous reaction, the kind of black joke common to every newspaper office. MacKenzie seized on it and designed a front page which said: "GOTCHA. Our lads sink gunboat and hole cruiser." The first edition was off stone before more detailed news of the Belgrano's sinking arrived. ///

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/feb/25/pressandpublishing.falklands

[jackthehat]

The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, made the complaint.

KM is reviled in Liverpool after the Sun's treatment of the city and its inhabitants after the Hillsborough during his stewardship of the paper. It seems that, even sidelining his comments about Ross Barkley, he still likes to give the city a good kicking.

[-Talbot-]

If anything it is the Mayor of Liverpool that is being racist by actually making the the link. He must equate black people with apes.