Liverpool mayor calls on Everton to ban The Sun in fallout to Ross Barkley article
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/04/2017 at 18:41 GMT
The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has called on Everton to join Liverpool in banning The Sun from the club in response to an offensive article published about attacking midfielder Ross Barkley, as well as reporting the paper to the police.
Everton v Hull City - Premier League - Goodison Park - 18/3/17 Everton's Ross Barkley warms up before the game
Image credit: Reuters
The offensive article in question was published this week about Barkley following an incident in a nightclub in Liverpool in which columnist Kelvin MacKenzie called the midfielder "thick" and insinuated that the only people who could a wage similar to footballers in Liverpool were drug dealers.
The article also compared Barkley, who is mixed race, to a gorilla. News UK later announced MacKenzie had been suspended.
Anderson has responded to the piece by telling the Liverpool Echo that he feels "embarrassed” to be an Everton fan with the newspaper still not banned by the club.
Liverpool have banned The Sun from press conference and covering games at Anfield in response to the paper's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster of 1989.
Anderson also took to Twitter to call upon Everton to join Liverpool in this move.
He also added that he has reported The Sun and Mackenzie to the Merseyside Police and the Press Complaints Commission.
In his full statement to the Echo he said:
I think Everton have let the fans down and let the city down by not banning them. This weekend of all weekends, when we are trying to do something to remember the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough, at the same time Everton are allowing The S*n - which is still violently attacking our city - into its press conferences. I have asked (Everton chief executive) Robert Elstone behind the scenes before to act on this and I have been reluctant to do this publicly but now I have been forced to go public. For god’s sake, stop embarrassing the fans, they are attacking the city and the club is saying it’s ok - I feel embarrassed to be an Everton fan.
Anderson also tweeted his disappointment with the Sun after reports of Mackenzie's suspension surfaced.
Former Everton players Gary Lineker and Neville Southall have both criticised the piece as has Joey Barton, who grew up on Merseyside and spent time in both Liverpool's and Everton's academies.
They were joined in this by Stan Collymore and a series of journalists.
Everton fans have also reacted by setting up a petition calling on the club to ban The Sun, with many more tweeting to the club to let them know their thoughts.
At the time of writing there has been no official response from Everton.
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