Monkey Comments

[pete 318]

What sort of dimwit is Roy Hodgson, making comments about monkey''s in the current atmosphere.

Never mind noone has taken offence. But Hodgson''s judgement must be questioned.

[NC 0]

Do you know the joke he apparently told?! Is not at all racist.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Feel for Roy. Slightly mis-judged comments, but the player who was supposedly offended shouldn''t hide behind a newspaper, he should come out and explain why he was offended.

Typical Britain, typical media. Qualify for World Cup. Following day - the manager is racist. Unbelievable.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="Row D Seat 7"]Typical Britain, typical media. Qualify for World Cup. Following day - the manager is racist. Unbelievable.[/quote]^^ This ^^

[ZLF 271]

Its a joke about using your most capable resource - ie pass the ball to the most dangerous player being townsend.

 

Its not in the slightest bit racist unless you are looking for something or are quite dumb - I thought Paul McVeigh said that the stupid footballer is dead?   It seems not if thats their reaction to this...

[Syteanric 1]

no footballer is offended.. the papers have made the story up and its an imaginary footballer

column inches to fill.

[Jonzey 0]

Here''s the joke:

 

“NASA decided they’d finally send a man up in a capsule after sending only monkeys in the earlier missions,” the joke goes.

“They fire the man and the monkey into space.

“The intercom crackles, ''Monkey, fire the retros.''

“A little later, ''Monkey, check the solid fuel supply.''

“Later still, “Monkey, check the life support systems for the man.''

“The astronaut takes umbrage and radioes NASA, ''When do I get to do something?''

“NASA replies, ''In 15 minutes - feed the monkey.''”

 

Now somebody tell me how this can in anyway be misinterpreted. Surely anybody who makes a link between the player involved and a monkey joke is the racist. Roy Hodgson was just telling a joke and clearly does not make the same connection.

[Dicky 0]

It just isn''t racist. People making it out to be racist are, well, racist. They are associating monkeys with black people - Hodgson wasn''t.

[I Love Fernando Derveld 0]

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]no footballer is offended.. the papers have made the story up and its an imaginary footballer

column inches to fill.[/quote]Except the joke WAS told - Woy has admitted this. Someone in that England Dressing Room told The Sun about it - that is the biggest issue for me - who was it and why did they do it?

[Tetteys Jig 830]

A load of bollocks and has been taken with a pinch of salt by both Townsend and Hodgson.

Remember back in school when you used to get told "so and so said this about your mum" by some idiot in the playground and then they''d go to the other guy and say "he said this back" "what are you going to do about it?" they were always simply doing it for their own entertainment hoping to start a fight from nothing. That''s typical journalist behaviour. Same as the Wilshire story.

What''s worse, the anti racism groups are getting involved! Do they really think Townsend secretly went home that night and cried himself to sleep or something? It just creates more tension (I suppose it keeps them in a job) when it''s not needed, they should be there for more serious events like the Hughton trolling when genuine help and consultation is needed, putting their oar in here just makes a mockery of their work and creates more tension.

[pete 318]

Apparently RH stated "Feed the monkey". I agree if he told the complete story to lighten the mood there is no basis for offence. However the comments were a misjudgement at best. I would expect better from the England manager than to make monkey references however much in jest.

[Dubai Mark 0]

Yep, it didnt take long did it. I said to my Wife after the Poland win that I wonder how long it will take for the gutter press to start putting out anti England stories and here''s the first one, and its an absolute non story and not even close to being racist. So, from now, are we not allowed to mention the word Monkey if there is a black person in the room just in case we get charged for being racist....and what if it is an Albino Monkey and that''s mentioned by a black person would the white person then be offended........yes its is unbelievable!! If, thats "if" there was an England player who leaked this, then he is the one with the problem and he should be left out of the World Cup squad for being totally unprofessional and an absolute knob........  

[ncfcstar 287]

[quote user="pete"]Apparently RH stated "Feed the monkey". I agree if he told the complete story to lighten the mood there is no basis for offence. However the comments were a misjudgement at best. I would expect better from the England manager than to make monkey references however much in jest.[/quote]Don''t be ridiculous.

[Chip20 69]

Dear lord, Pete! Not allowed to tell a joke that includes a monkey!!? Seriously!!!? Should he also not tell any jokes that involve footballers, or, indeed, men!!!?

The monkey wasn''t even the butt of the joke. In fact, if my understanding of the incident is correct, it wasn''t even being used as a joke, it was an analogy to illustrate a point.

[Dicky 0]

[quote user="pete"]Apparently RH stated "Feed the monkey". I agree if he told the complete story to lighten the mood there is no basis for offence. However the comments were a misjudgement at best. I would expect better from the England manager than to make monkey references however much in jest.[/quote]

My kids talk about monkeys - are they racist?

[Phillip J Fry 0]

Townsend didn''t seem to upset:

''I don''t know what all this fuss is about. No offence was meant and none was taken! It''s not even news worthy!''

[Two penneth 0]

Big worry this.

We want bright intelligent footballers playing for England. Players who can understand what the manager is saying, what he means. The player who leaked this clearly did not.Makes you wonder if he should be playing for the national team at all if he is that dim?

[Houston Canary 0]

What race was the astronaut?

[The Great Mass Debater 1,073]

People really dont understand racism. Unbelievable this association has been made and in no way should Roy''s judgement be questioned for this. If you go to a zoo and say, ooh look at the monkey - is that racist too?! Most people on this thread have hit the nail on the head. The person who associates monkeys with black people is the one who connects them and therefore the racist. Absolutely ridiculous. I want to know which footballer was offended, as their IQ needs to be seriously questioned!!!

[Olly 0]

Wonder who the player who leaked it was?

If I had to guess would be Lampard. He can''t have been happy about being dropped

[Dicky 0]

Quote from a professional comedian I know - " In my professional opinion, a joke containing the word ''monkey'' is not racist if the monkey in question is a monkey."

[Shaun Tilly Lace 0]

Talk about a storm in a tea cup. I don''t know if the tw.ats in our crappy media want Roy to put all his best efforts into managing our counrtry''s football team, or if they''d rather waste his time and ours by creating various stupid distractions in which he has to feel stressed in answering inane questions and explain himself. Only in England!

[Houston Canary 0]

I find the handwringing worry quite amusing.

The real racism in the story isn''t the joke or even the thought that mention of a monkey is belittling to blacks. It''s the thought too many do-gooders seem to have that blacks need their protection. I find that very offensive, people trying to prove how non-racist they are by patronizing blacks. That''s actually worse in today''s world.

[Jonzey 0]

Perhaps the scumbag journalist who wrote this ''story'' was so upset that England qualified, therefore meaning he couldn''t go on a hate fuelled rampage against Hodgson, that he used this as a vehicle to vent his vitriol. He just had to get the hate out and decided to run with it as being positive about England qualifying is just not an option.

[Houston Canary 0]

You may have nailed it, Jonzey. Probably a player repeated the amusing story and someone figured a way to make a non-issue into a potential issue. Political correctness backlash.

[Dubai Mark 0]

Read that twice Houston, thought about it a bit and have to agree 100%!

[Herman 9,692]

What rag ran with this non-story?

Anyway it seems like sense has prevailed and all ''concerned'' parties have moved on.

[Scottlarock 3]

[quote user="Olly"]Wonder who the player who leaked it was?

If I had to guess would be Lampard. He can''t have been happy about being dropped[/quote]

...or Ashley Cole was in the same situation having been dropped for Baines....and is well connected with Gordon Smart (the reporter) through Sun Biz column and is more likely to be offended by the incident than Lampard.......possibly of course :-)

[OldRobert 38]

There''s one player who likes to make capital out of the race card, who said he wanted to play for his country, then decided he didn''t.  Not in the squad now of course, but plenty of contacts and plays centre back for Manure.............and I''m not a betting man.[;)]

[im spartacus canary 0]

i''d be amazed if rio and his gormless talentless brother haven''t stuck there oar in somewhere