Sky Sports pundits Jamie Redknapp and Patrice Evra DITCH badges for Black
Lives Matter as football captains consider making public statement over links to
organisation and Premier League distances themselves following group's extreme
statements
- Since the league resumed, guests appearing on Sky Sports have worn
badges with the campaign phrase after all 20 clubs agreed to emblazon 'Black
Lives Matter' on their shirts for the first round of games
- Players have also 'taken the knee' before matches, a symbol adopted by
US athletes to protest alleged police brutality and racism and which has been
used by BLM protesters across the world since George Floyd
- But concerns have been raised after a series of tweets by the UK
branch of Black Lives Matter which criticised Israel and called on the British
government to 'defund the police' Sir Keir said this was wrong
- Yesterday studio guests Patrice Evra and Jamie Redknapp and
commentator Gary Neville all failed to wear a BLM lapel badge
- The Premier League said it recognised 'the importance of the message
that black lives matter' but made clear that it 'does not endorse any
political
organisation or movement, nor support any group that calls for violence or
condones illegal activity'
- Sportsmail can reveal that the issue has been discussed by several
players, with a group of top-flight captains considering whether to make a
public statement on the matter. Laurence Fox has been shaming players on
Twitter
On Tuesday, the Premier League said it recognised 'the importance of the
message that black lives matter' but made clear that it 'does not endorse any political organisation or movement, nor support any group that calls for
violence or condones illegal activity.'
And Sportsmail can reveal that the issue has been discussed by several
players, with a group of top-flight captains considering whether to make a
public statement on the matter.
While the players remain united in campaigning for equality and committed to
maintaining such symbolic gestures for the remainder of the season, some are
concerned about being associated with the political activism of Black Lives
Matter UK.
On Sunday, Black Lives Matter UK issued a barrage of tweets over Israel's
proposed annexation of the West Bank and claimed that 'mainstream British
politics is gagged of the right to critique Zionism.'
The following day Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has 'taken the knee'
alongside parliamentary colleagues, called it a 'shame' that the sentiment
behind the Black Lives Matter protests was getting 'tangled up with these
organisational issues' and said calls to defund the police were 'nonsense.'
Black Lives Matter UK responded by tweeting that 'as a public prosecutor, Sir
Keir Starmer was a cop in an expensive suit.'
Top PUndit Matt Mr Le Tissier, 51, criticised the group's
'far-left ideology' and
said he 'could not support' the cause's anti-police and anti-capitalist aims.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rse-group.html