By Gabriel Princewill-
We today criticise former footballer, Stan Collymore, for his ill judged attack against the BBC, following the broadcaster’s sacking of racist Danny Baker after the shamed radio 5 DJ tweeting a racially offensive tweet against Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby.
Collymore is among a few people who have come out to play down the idiocy of Baker, as though this diminishes the seriousness of Baker’s unscrupulous act. Today, the Spectator published an article by Alice Moss, a woman who called for Baker to eventually be forgiven, whilst conceding that her position was not objective because of a fondness she developed for him by working as a newsreader on a daily basis with Baker. When addressing serious issues like this, who wants to hear views that are not objective?They serve no cogent purpose in this type of discourse where a spade needs to be called a spade.
Collymore tenuously based his criticism on an alleged lack of black or Asian presenters on the 5 Live roster, calling out fellow sport radio stations LBC and talksport for their lack of diversity too, calling it “the epitome of hypocrisy”.” Collymore, who now works as a broadcaster, said on Twitter. “But tomorrow will have no black or mixed raced presenters through the day despite being the ‘home of live sport’ [and] 60% of the sportsmen and women they cover being from black and mixed backgrounds.”These broadcasters don’t pay the price,” Collymore finished.
“Operating the kind of discrimination that is much more hurtful, less visible and affects lives and jobs directly.””Many in the BAME community believe ‘a racist deserves what they get,” the retired England footballer states as part of the lengthy post. “But we must give ourselves enough room to make sure our own response is proportionate to the crime. He said the BBC quite simply should have said:
”Dan you know the script here, and the potential for this picture to cause concern and discomfort, but deleted it quickly and apologised so we’ll give you your work and credibility over decades the benefit of the doubt.
RIDICULOUS
Collymore’s shaky criticism of the BBC’s sacking of Baker is ridiculous and misguided. The former footballer who once attacked his former girlfriend, Ulrika Johnson may be trying to demonstrate a degree of allegiance to Baker, or just venting a unwarranted attack against the BBC. His attack of the broadcaster who acted appropriately in their decision up appears to undermine the levity of the offence caused through his tweet.
His assertion that the BBC should have given Baker back his job is tantamount to the conclusion that this form of overt racism racism can continue with impunity in a multi-cultural society like Britain. If a racist deserves what they get, as he says, the dismissal was a fitting outcome, without which the corporation could have been viewed to be complicit in the offence. Collymore would later be featured criticising Aston Villa fans for a racist chant directed at Tammy Abraham-one that is at odds with his stance against the BBC.
On twitter, he said: “Tammy Abraham song. Not funny.
“There have been enough black players who’ve done the business for our club, honour them by singing about their ability, goals, skill, attributes.“Colour? Nope, never. P*** poor.
“If you don’t want our club to be be tagged with some others who have rap sheet as long as your arm, don’t let fellow fans, wearing our colours demean one of our players in the most basic of ways. Collymore is trying to appeal to racists with kids gloves, whilst criticising those meting out appropriate punitive measures to make a clear stand on their position. Action speaks louder than words, mate.
DEFENCE
Comedian Dara O’Brien also joined the bandwagon in coming to Baker’s defence. He said: “What? Danny Baker got fired? But he immediately apologised and deleted the tweet!”I mean, literally, in the event of mistakenly causing offence, what else can you do? Genuinely amazed by that.”He added: “Also amazed by how many thought that by posting this, I was excusing the original tweet. Of course I wasn’t.”The Irish had a century of that monkey s**t too, y’know. Ultimately, though, I’d lif/whenf**kup,
On the bandwagon Of senseless BBC Attack: Dara O’Brien
you might forgive me”. If the motive for Dara’s intervention is to secure sympathy in the event of a future misdemeanour on his part, it renders his contribution to the discussion completely invalid and highlights his self centred objectives. At Nottingham’s Theatre Royal yesterday, the media reported that Baker received a standing ovation at the end of a speech in which he denied being racist. All the public support Baker has received so far is nothing short of that, support. It potentially serves to bias an ongoing police investigation , which itself may need to be scrutinised if as expected, nothing comes of it.