Collymore in foul-mouthed race row with rival Wright
STan COllYMORE re- ignited his longrunning feud with Ian Wright by sending the World Cup television pundit a foul-mouthed tweet that contained a racial slur.
Collymore, who works for Russian broadcasters RT, accused Wright of being an ‘ Uncle Tom’ — a black person who is subservient to white people — in a very public row.
The pair, both former England internationals, had swapped angry messages on social media after a Collymore interview in
The Guardian suggested that Wright had become a successful broadcaster because he was a ‘comedian’.
‘To be a black pundit you either need to be a comedian like Chris Kamara or Ian Wright — guys who have big pearly-white smiles and everyone loves laughing at — or Jermaine Jenas and alex Scott, who are completely inoffensive,’ said Collymore.
‘What you’re not allowed to do is call out the status quo, which is what I do.’
Former Crystal Palace and arsenal forward Wright,ht, a regular analyst on BBC’sC’s
Match of the Day who willll be a World Cup punditt for ITV over the next month, responded to the accusation.
His tweet read: ‘ Representation matters. Opportunities matter. I feel sorry for you but youu have to let the chip on yourour shoulder go and take some responsibility for why broadcasters and brands won’t be associated with you.
‘Everyone should have the opportunity to fight for their case but the fact that you have to do it at the expense of others speaks more about you than all of us.’
Sun columnist Wright then posted a picture of himself and Kamara laughing together.
Mirror columnist Collymore, however, reacted angrily. ‘ You know what you are, Ian, and always have been, which is why only you are employed by every British broadcaster. The epitome of a Tom. C***’. The feud started in 2015 when Wright refused to work alongside Collymore on a Channel 5 Football league programme, apparently because his son Shaun WrightPhillips was the target of criticism from Collymore. ‘I dodon’tt do mischief Stan,’ wrote Wright. ‘I said f*** ChannelCha 5 and f*** Stan Collymore!Co How’s that? now if you don’t mind I’ve recorded myself on Premier league legends! Wanna watch it.’ Then last year the pairp clashed because CollymoreC believed WrightWr should have taken a ststand over an article in The Sun in which Kelvin MacKenzie insulted then Everton midfielder Ross Barkley. Their exchange included taunts from Collymore that Wright was being subservient while Wright brought up Collymore’s assault on former partner Ulrika Jonsson. Collymore, who has spoken openly about his history of mental health issues, was a broadcaster with talkSPORT for eight years. The station decided not to renew his contract in 2016.