ZCZC
BSP-30
SPORTS-SOCCER-WORLD CUP
“Go Kane” UK tabloid headline causes World Cup controversy
MOSCOW, July 3, 2018 (BSS/XINHUA) – British tabloid newspaper The Sun provoked controversy on Tuesday, with a front cover poking fun at Colombia’s reputation as the world’s leading producer of cocaine.
England face Colombia in Moscow on Tuesday night for a place in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup, and The Sun, which has a long history of provocative and jingoistic front pages, published a photo of England striker Harry Kane, along with the headline: “As the 3 Lions face the nation that gave the world Shakira, great coffee ad …er other stuff, we say GO KANE!”
While the words “Go Kane” may at first sight seem like a battle cry to cheer on the England striker, who has five goals already in the tournament, it does also sound suspiciously like “cocaine” and the headline has not been well received in Colombia, where 25 percent of all intentional homicides between 1994 and 2008 were drug-related.
Colombian TV network Caracol TV described the headline as “rude”, while the El Espectador newspaper said “Colombia’s reply will be on the pitch.”
Tuesday’s headline is the latest in a long list of offensive comments by the newspaper, which has in the past mocked a speech impediment by former England boss Roy Hodgson, used England’s 2010 World Cup group stage opponents (England, Algeria, Slovenia and “Yanks”) to spell out “EASY”, and which in 2016 was accused by the European Commission on Racism and Intolerance of “fuelling prejudice” and the use of “offensive, discriminatory and provocative terminology.”
BSS/ XINHUA/SG/SMM/1805 hrs