Black Lives Matter badges are BACK: Football pundits almost ALL wear the controversial logo

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Nearly all football pundits this evening are wearing the controversial logo just a day after it seemed to be on the way out after Sky’s Matt Le Tissier slammed Black Lives Matter’s ‘far-left ideology’.

Both BT and Sky let are allowing their pundits make their own decisions about whether they wear the badges – with Patrice Evra ditching his first, before Jamie Redknapp followed suit in coverage last night.

This evening David Jones, James Collins and Ashley Cole are still wearing the badges in Sky’s coverage of Bournemouth vs Newcastle and Everton vs Leicester. The Black Lives Matter logo was also shown on the broadcaster’s pre-match graphic.

Rio Ferdinand and Martin Keown also continue to wear their badges as they analyse the clash tonight between Arsenal and Norwich on BT Sport.

It came after the Premier League distanced itself from the movement, but players in yesterday’s match still ‘took the knee’ before kick-off and had ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their sleeves after George Floyd’s death in the US in May.

Since the league resumed on June 17, Sky Sports presenters have worn the badges with the campaign phrase after all 20 clubs agreed to emblazon ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their shirts for all matches following the Covid-19 break.

Players and officials have also ‘taken the knee’ before matches, a symbol adopted by US athletes to protest police brutality and racism in 2016 and now used in BLM protests across the world. However, concerns have been raised after a series of tweets by BLM which criticised Israel and called on the British government to ‘defund the police’. 

Meanwhile Sky Sports News presenter Mike Wedderburn – who last week issued a powerful speech after a ‘White Lives Matter Burnley’ banner was flown over a match – was still wearing a BLM badge on this morning’s show.  And Sky Sports appeared to still be backing the movement, carrying the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter before ad breaks.

The Premier League said it recognised ‘the importance of the message that black lives matter’ – without referring to the organisation’s name in upper case – 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.’ But chiefs are not expected to ditch the BLM badge on shirts, having drawn a distinction between BLM’s cause and the group itself.

BT Sport, which is showing Arsenal v Norwich City tonight, will also let pundits decide whether to wear the badge. The BBC’s position on the matter is not yet clear. But MailOnline can also reveal 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 maintaining such symbolic gestures for the rest of the season, some are concerned about being associated with the political activism of BLM. 

The cause has been widely supported across football and the wider sporting world by TV and media stars, but that all changed on Sunday when BLM 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 BLM protests was getting ‘tangled up with these organisational issues’ and said calls to defund the police were ‘nonsense.’

BLM UK responded by tweeting that ‘as a public prosecutor, Sir Keir Starmer was a cop in an expensive suit.’ But it also prompted a row between Lawrence Fox and Gary Lineker after the actor asked the BBC Match of the Day presenter if he agreed with BLM’s messages on Palestine – forcing Lineker to distance himself from the group. Comedy writer Lee Kern, co-writer of Who Is America?, has also hit out at BLM for its ‘anti-Semitic conspiracies’. 

Sky Sports’ ditching of the BLM badges during yesterday’s coverage at the Amex Stadium comes after another pundit, Matt Le Tissier, said he only wore the badge after being asked to do so by bosses at the broadcaster. 

Upon seeing Sky’s top pundits had stopped wearing BLM badges on air, fans were quick to share their thoughts on Twitter, with one saying: ‘If only they’d done a little research like us peasants did before jumping in with both feet.’

Another wrote: ‘Maybe research an organisation next time blokes before you support their ’cause”, while someone else posted: ‘Slowly people are realising BLM is an anti-Semitic, anarchistic anti white, anti law and order movement, and regretting their foolish support’.

Black Lives Matter UK – or @BLMUK on social media – is the British offshoot of its US counterpart, but the group’s leaders, who are largely anonymous, have been accused of using its financial muscle for a range of far-Left aims, and criticised for a lack of transparency with no formal governing structure and having never filed accounts. 

The group has said it intends to be ‘guided by a commitment to dismantle imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and the state structures that disproportionately harm black people in Britain and around the world’ – making it different to the US version, which does not cite ending capitalism as a policy goal.

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. 

He had, along with fellow Sky pundit Jamie Carragher appeared on air wearing a BLM badge but said he only did so after being asked to. Sky Sports said the issue of wearing the BLM badge was a matter of individual choice.  

On June 8, Evra posted an emotional video insists his ‘heart is burning’ as he spoke out against racism following the death of Mr Floyd.

Evra said at the time: ‘Staying silent is a crime. Saying I am not racist is not good enough, because we know to be racist. We know to pretend to be not racist, but let’s learn to be anti-racist because enough is enough.

‘And like I always say, racism comes from the education. No babies are born as a racist, no human being is born as a racist. So we know it is from the education. I experienced racists all my life. I am not here crying, I am not here being the victim.’

The players’ call to endorse the sentiment behind the Black Lives Matter movement — the need for action to ensure greater equality and an expression of solidarity with those who have suffered persecution because of their race — was instrumental in persuading the Premier League to make the campaign such a visible part of Project Restart.

Every game since the resumption has been prefaced by players and match officials taking a knee in tribute to George Floyd, while the partner of Watford captain Troy Deeney designed a BLM logo which features on the shirts of all 20 Premier League clubs. 

In yesterday’s statement, the Premier League said it stands alongside clubs and footballing bodies in supporting people who have ‘come together in recent weeks to reject racism and to show support for the message that black lives matter.’ 

However, it then went on: ‘We do not endorse any political organisation or movement, nor support any group that calls for violence or condones illegal activity.

‘We are aware of the risk posed by groups that seek to hijack popular causes and campaigns to promote their own political views. 

‘These actions are entirely unwelcome and are rejected by the Premier League and all other professional football bodies, and they underline the importance of our sport coming together to declare a very clear position against prejudice.’ 

The message came after the UK arm of Black Lives Matter said it wants to defund the police completely and abolish capitalism and has pledged support for Palestine amid Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank. 

The group’s other aims prompted Le Tissier to tell MailOnline yesterday of his concerns. 

His words followed black footballer Karl Henry, formerly of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Queens Park Rangers, who branded the group ‘divisive’.   

Le Tissier said bosses at Sky had asked him and other pundits to wear the logo for their appearances and he agreed, but pointed out he supported ‘the cause, not the organisation’. 

Speaking outside his home near Southampton, he said: ‘I just don’t agree with some of the points of that movement – specifically the defunding of the police and the anti capitalist points are things I do not agree with.

‘They are the two main points for me. I am quite happy for them to have their point of view, but that is mine and that is where I sit. I think a lot of people in the country would agree with me.

‘I will still wear the badge because I do of course believe black lives matter. 

‘It’s a simple thing, I agree with the cause but there are parts of the organisation that I just cannot support.’

When asked whether pundits on Sky Sports had been told to wear the badge, Le Tissier laughed and said: ‘We were asked to wear it.’ 

He and Henry had been the only high-profile voices in football so far to raise concerns about the UK arm, which has protested over the killing of George Floyd by a white policeman in the US.

Until then the sport had completely embraced the movement, with players taking the knee before Premier League and Championship matches kicked off.

But the past few days has seen the group embroiled in an anti-Semitism row and criticism of its ‘defund the police’ agenda. 

Black Lives Matter UK’s twitter page says the group is endorsed by Patrice Cullors, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter organisation in the US.

The UK arm is sitting on a pot of more than £1million from a GoFundMe fundraiser that it says will be distributed to grassroots organisations shortly with all financial details made public.

Presenters and guests on Sky Sports have worn BLM badges when appearing on programmes, but now Le Tissier says he has held talks with his bosses about this. 

Meanwhile Henry has called for a ‘new inclusive and politically-neutral anti-racism movement’ after savaging the UK group online.

In response, the channel said no-one was obliged to wear the logo, with a source adding it supported the group simply for its anti-racism stance.

The Southampton legend and former England international replied to a tweet accusing him of ‘promoting a far-left ideology’ and said he had spoken with Sky Sports chiefs about the matter.  

Le Tissier is one of football’s most popular pundits after a glittering career at Southampton and was voted the greatest Premier League player of all time in a Eurosport poll. 

He began the debate by urging his followers to remove him on Twitter if they were from the ‘far right or far left’. 

‘Morning peeps, polite request, if you’re far right or far left do me and yourselves a favour and unfollow me, it’ll be good for yours and our mental health as I couldn’t give 2 hoots how many followers I have I won’t be offended.’ 

One Twitter user replied: ‘If you are central Matt why wear a badge promoting a far left ideology?’ 

The 51-year-old wrote back: ‘That’s a good point and one which I’ve made to my boss already.’ 

Another said: ‘Maybe you should review your BLM badge wearing’, to which he responded: ‘I am reviewing’.

There has been plenty of reaction and debate following Le Tissier’s tweet, with another user saying he ‘hated this badging of the left and right’. 

And one replied telling him ‘that BLM badge is a bit dodgy’.

There has been plenty of reaction and debate following Le Tissier’s tweet, with another user saying he ‘hated this badging of the left and right’. 

And one replied telling him ‘that BLM badge is a bit dodgy’.

Former Wolves, Stoke City, QPR, Bolton and Bradford City professional footballer Karl Henry also raised concerns about the aims of BLM UK. 

He tweeted yesterday: ‘I think the majority of the UK have now had enough of that organisation.       

‘A new inclusive and politically-neutral anti-racism movement to follow and get behind is much needed. Black people’s lives matter!

‘The divisive #BlackLivesMatter organisation, however, DOES NOT.’

Black Lives Matter encourage the slogan #DefundThePolice amid outcry over alleged violence by police towards black people, saying they ‘call for an end to the systemic racism that allows this culture of corruption to go unchecked and our lives to be taken’.

In further remarks he took aim at some of the UK group’s far-left policies.   

He added: ‘Let’s just look at Capitalism, which #BlackLivesMatterUK want to abolish. 

‘It does NOT favour white people. It is not the enemy of the black community. 

‘Capitalism allows free enterprise and entrepreneurialism. If other communities can flourish under capitalism, so can we!’  

Speaking about their views on the police on the Black Lives Matter website, the movement says Floyd’s death was a ‘breaking point’ and ‘a reminder that, for black people, law enforcement doesn’t protect or save our lives. They often threaten and take them’.

They have called for ‘a national defunding of police’, asking for ‘investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive’.

But there is a growing chorus of voices who want to know exactly who is behind the group.

Last week they posted a statement on various social media feeds, promising soon to ‘create a website’ that would ‘ease any confusion around which of the many Black Lives Matter organisations and platforms that have emerged is actually us’.

The statement also promised its spending ‘will be made public in the spirit of transparency and accountability in due course’. As to who is behind the organisation, it claimed its leaders were busy dealing with ’emergency legal matters’ and ‘the hostility of far-Right groups’ which represent ‘a genuine threat to our safety’.

Yesterday it seemed to be trying to row back on its police money remarks, tweeting a post at odds with its own published aims.

It said: ‘When we say ‘Defund the police’ we mean invest in programmes that actually keep us safe like youth services, mental health and social care, education, jobs and housing. Key services to support the most vulnerable before they come into contact with the criminal justice system.’

A Sky Sports said none of the presenters were obliged to wear the badges. One source familiar with the situation added: ‘It is the individual’s choice whether they wear the badges or not.

‘The channel’s support for Black Lives Matter is for the moral cause of the campaign for racial justice, rather than for any political organisation.’ 

Premier League players fearful of links to Black Lives Matter activists as captains consider making a public statement distancing themselves from the UK wing

ByMatt Hughes For The Daily Mail

Premier League players want to distance themselves from the official UK wing of the Black Lives Matter organisation amid concerns over its ideology and political ambitions.

Sportsmail can reveal that the issue has been discussed by several players, with the group of top-flight captains considering whether to make a public statement on the matter.

The players’ call to endorse the sentiment behind the Black Lives Matter movement — the need for action to ensure greater equality and an expression of solidarity with those who have suffered persecution because of their race — was instrumental in persuading the Premier League to make the campaign such a visible part of Project Restart.

Every game since the resumption has been prefaced by players and match officials taking a knee in tribute to George Floyd, while the partner of Watford captain Troy Deeney designed a BLM logo which features on the shirts of all 20 Premier League clubs.

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. In the last few days, the official BLM UK Twitter account has caused controversy by calling for the overthrow of capitalism, reductions in police funding and an end to free trade with Israel.

Former Wolves midfielder Karl Henry criticised BLM UK on social media on Tuesday as a divisive organisation, while Sky Sports pundit Matt Le Tissier said he would review his decision to wear a BLM badge in comments that have sparked a debate among players.

‘I think the majority of the UK have now had enough of that organisation,’ wrote Henry on Twitter. ‘A new inclusive and politically neutral anti-racism movement to follow and get behind is much needed. Black people’s lives matter! The divisive #BlackLivesMatter organisation, however, DOES NOT.’

The Premier League have not provided any funding to BLM UK and chief executive Richard Masters told MPs on Tuesday that his organisation remain apolitical.

Appearing before a select committee of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Masters attempted to draw a distinction between moral and political causes, although this position was criticised by Sunderland MP Julie Elliott, who accused him of ‘opening a can of worms’.

The Premier League and the FA prohibit participants in the game from making political statements, with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola fined two years ago by the latter for wearing a ribbon in support of Catalan independence.

‘I don’t think it sets any particular precedent,’ Masters insisted. ‘I think it’s perfectly possible to support Black Lives Matter without being seen to be supporting any political organisation.

‘We’re happy to support the players. We think it’s the right moment to do it and for the first time I feel that players, managers, Premier League and clubs are on the same page on the issue of discrimination. That feels like a positive step.

‘We’re drawing a clear distinction between a moral cause and a political movement.

‘While there may be some difficulty sometimes in dividing the two, our position is clear. Politics no, moral causes yes — when agreed. We’re living in special times at the moment.’

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