Liverpool/The Sun

The mayor of Liverpool has condemned a newspaper article about Everton midfielder Ross Barkley as "racist and prehistoric".

Barkley, 23, was punched in a Liverpool bar last weekend in what his lawyer described as an "unprovoked attack".

Sun columnist, and former editor, Kelvin MacKenzie has compared Barkley to a "gorilla at the zoo".

Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said he has reported the article to the police for a "racial slur".

One of Barkley's grandfathers was born in Nigeria.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Anderson said: "Not only is it racist in a sense that he is of mixed-race descent, equally it's a racial stereotype of Liverpool. It is racist and prehistoric."

Anderson later tweeted to say he had reported the article to Merseyside Police and the Independent Press Standards Organisation.

MacKenzie was editor of The Sun when it published a front-page article headlined 'Hillsborough: The Truth' in the aftermath of the 1989 disaster at Sheffield Wednesday's football stadium.

The article claimed Liverpool fans were to blame for the tragedy, in which 96 people died. MacKenzie apologised in 2012.

In Friday's article, he targets both England international Barkley and the city of Liverpool, saying:

Barkley is "one of our dimmest footballers", also calling him "thick".
Barkley's eyes make him "certain not only are the lights not on, there is definitely nobody at home", adding: "I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo."
Men with similar "pay packets" in Liverpool are "drug dealers" and in prison.


Burnley midfielder Joey Barton, who was an Everton youth player, tweeted: "Those comments about Ross Barkley, a young working-class lad, are disgusting. Then add in the fact he is mixed race! It becomes outrageous."

Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore tweeted: "Implied racism at its finest."

BBC Sport has contacted Everton, Barkley's representatives, The Sun and Merseyside Police for comment

 

****in scousers

 

"equally it's a racial stereotype of Liverpool."

Get to ****

Mackenzie will enjoy this ...

 

"an unprovoked attack". The best kind.

 

Mackenzie is a ****er all the same.

 

Mackenzie is a disgrace, like most tabloid scum using lies to sell papers.

I would never use the Sun or Malice to even wipe my arse on, and anyone that ever believes this ****e is a moron.

The tabloids have had a vendetta against football fans along with the birth of Sky in 1992.

The wicked witch of the west was a liar and concealed the truth, beckoning her class warriors and bias media men to her very merry dance.

I will never forgive the politicians, the police and even more so the British media, one of the biggest propaganda wheels in the world.

 

Aye!
Utter **** of a man ...

 

He's a ****.

 

Mope overload:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/item/1a5e1066-bbb2-464f-9a1a-c03b05ffc127

 

The 96 are the lucky ones imo.

 

That's Ciarans for you

 

Nope.

 

Is that a peace lily in your avatar?

 

You know rightly what it is.

I've mentioned your lazy bait recently too

 

I don't know what it's called but it's the oirish equivalent of the remembrance poppy right? Bit mopey.

 

^^^^^ Scouser

 

^^^^^^ Sean Mercer

 

Stooping to your usual lows. I know what a bigoted scum you are and you ****ing hate me for it.

Your never let it go the day you wrote war and peace in sheer panic and have crawled and wormed like a bitter maggot ever since