Equality chief attacks Liverpool over Kelvin MacKenzie race row
LIVERPOOL is “wallowing in victim status”, a former equalities chief told Kelvin MacKenzie after the newspaper columnist was criticised for comparing the Everton footballer Ross Barkley to a gorilla.
Trevor Phillips sent a text to Mr MacKenzie saying he “had no idea Barkley was a brother”, adding: “Sad to see a great city wallowing in victim status. Unbelievable.”
Mr MacKenzie, who was suspended by The Sun over his remarks, said he had expected the one-time chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to claim he was racist.
Mr Phillips’s support was mirrored by MPs, including one Conservative who sent a text saying: “On behalf of all gorillas, I’d like to make a complaint.”
Writing in the Spectator magazine, Mr MacKenzie defended his Sun column, claiming he was not aware that Mr Barkley’s grandfather was half-Nigerian.
He said: “I and every football fan I had ever met believed Barkley to be white. Unluckily for me, but luckily for my enemies in the North West, that was not entirely true.”
Mr Phillips declined to comment.