As regular readers of this blog will know I have recently taken a large dive into the world of international soccer and, especially, the English Premier League. One of my greatest daily treats was listening to a podcast of the Sirius show "World Soccer Daily". This show centered on all things soccer, focusing on international soccer and the English Premier League, all while based out of Los Angeles, giving it somewhat of an American flavor.
Today I was saddened to hear that the show is going off of the air. It is not ending because of poor ratings or contract negotiations; it is ending because the hosts and their families are receiving death threats via telephone, E-mail and Twitter. They are receiving these death threats from members of fanatical Liverpool FC fan clubs, all stemming from fairly innocuous comments made on the air a little while back.
The source of the controversy involved a tragedy that happened 20 years ago in England. You can check Wikipedia for a detailed treatment but I will summarize here. A crowd of people overran the outside gates of a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest and congregated in a standing area near the field which was fenced in by tall steel gates. Too many people crowded the front and 96 people died when they suffocated while being pressed forward against this gate. Many blamed the tragedy on the fact that there were large pens where fans could crowd together. Some blamed police for opening up an outside gate to prevent crushing outside, allowing too many people to enter the stadium.
A less widely held view is that Liverpool fans bore some of the responsibility for events. Claims have been made that fans were drunk, violent, and congregated together in large numbers in a coordinated effort to outnumber police and gain entry into the event without tickets. One of the hosts of "World Soccer Daily", Steven Cohen, had expressed belief that Liverpool fans did indeed act badly on that day and should bear some of the blame for the tragedy. Although he apologized for anger this might have caused amongst Liverpool fans, he was on the receiving end of an effort to have him ousted as host of the show.
The efforts began as a massive boycott of the show and included phone calls, E-mails and letter writing to executives at Sirius radio to have the show removed. It then devolved into personal attacks and severe anti-Semitic slurs toward Cohen. Later, the attacks became direct against family members and, especially, against Cohen himself. Cohen decided enough was enough and bowed to pressure to attempt to alleviate the threats against him and his family.
Selfishly, as someone just starting to dive into soccer, it upset me that I lost the only daily soccer broadcast in this country. It also upset me that people would threaten someone's life over a statement that was made on a soccer show. A bigger disappointment is the fact that top executives at Liverpool FC knew full well what was going on and not once issued a statement condemning the hateful speech and threats. What I am most disappointed with, however, is that the campaign of hate and intimidation came not from fans in England, but rather from the U.S.
We live in a country where freedom of speech is such a basic right that it is guaranteed as the First Amendment to our Constitution. Certainly, making a comment about events 20 years prior on a soccer show would qualify. That people living in this country, under our Constitution, could ignore this fact and threaten away someone else's right to free speech is shameful. No matter how much we might disagree with one's position, he or she does not deserve to be slandered, be racially denigrated and have his or her family's life threatened.
Steven Cohen moved to the U.S. from England as a young man and promptly served 4 years in the U.S. Army. He has done nothing to deserve the vitriol that the animals supporting Liverpool FC have inflicted upon him. To think that it is 2009 and one could be killed for uttering a simple statement makes me wonder whether we are living in the United States or Iran. Such hatred has no place in this country, whether it is in entertainment, sports, politics or any other forum. We are all entitled to be heard. We are not entitled to threaten others to prevent them from being heard.
Today I was saddened to hear that the show is going off of the air. It is not ending because of poor ratings or contract negotiations; it is ending because the hosts and their families are receiving death threats via telephone, E-mail and Twitter. They are receiving these death threats from members of fanatical Liverpool FC fan clubs, all stemming from fairly innocuous comments made on the air a little while back.
The source of the controversy involved a tragedy that happened 20 years ago in England. You can check Wikipedia for a detailed treatment but I will summarize here. A crowd of people overran the outside gates of a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forrest and congregated in a standing area near the field which was fenced in by tall steel gates. Too many people crowded the front and 96 people died when they suffocated while being pressed forward against this gate. Many blamed the tragedy on the fact that there were large pens where fans could crowd together. Some blamed police for opening up an outside gate to prevent crushing outside, allowing too many people to enter the stadium.
A less widely held view is that Liverpool fans bore some of the responsibility for events. Claims have been made that fans were drunk, violent, and congregated together in large numbers in a coordinated effort to outnumber police and gain entry into the event without tickets. One of the hosts of "World Soccer Daily", Steven Cohen, had expressed belief that Liverpool fans did indeed act badly on that day and should bear some of the blame for the tragedy. Although he apologized for anger this might have caused amongst Liverpool fans, he was on the receiving end of an effort to have him ousted as host of the show.
The efforts began as a massive boycott of the show and included phone calls, E-mails and letter writing to executives at Sirius radio to have the show removed. It then devolved into personal attacks and severe anti-Semitic slurs toward Cohen. Later, the attacks became direct against family members and, especially, against Cohen himself. Cohen decided enough was enough and bowed to pressure to attempt to alleviate the threats against him and his family.
Selfishly, as someone just starting to dive into soccer, it upset me that I lost the only daily soccer broadcast in this country. It also upset me that people would threaten someone's life over a statement that was made on a soccer show. A bigger disappointment is the fact that top executives at Liverpool FC knew full well what was going on and not once issued a statement condemning the hateful speech and threats. What I am most disappointed with, however, is that the campaign of hate and intimidation came not from fans in England, but rather from the U.S.
We live in a country where freedom of speech is such a basic right that it is guaranteed as the First Amendment to our Constitution. Certainly, making a comment about events 20 years prior on a soccer show would qualify. That people living in this country, under our Constitution, could ignore this fact and threaten away someone else's right to free speech is shameful. No matter how much we might disagree with one's position, he or she does not deserve to be slandered, be racially denigrated and have his or her family's life threatened.
Steven Cohen moved to the U.S. from England as a young man and promptly served 4 years in the U.S. Army. He has done nothing to deserve the vitriol that the animals supporting Liverpool FC have inflicted upon him. To think that it is 2009 and one could be killed for uttering a simple statement makes me wonder whether we are living in the United States or Iran. Such hatred has no place in this country, whether it is in entertainment, sports, politics or any other forum. We are all entitled to be heard. We are not entitled to threaten others to prevent them from being heard.
Posts
Tony,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. It actually reminds me of the current debate over health care. Some Americans are shouting and preventing others from engaging in a debate about the subject. I think the same applies here. I applaud your post and thank you for it.
Sincerely,
Jason