Naga Munchetty spoke out against the claim that the BBC were “just propaganda merchants” after comments following an interview about booing as people kneeled at football matches began to flood in, claiming they wanted to paint everyone as racist and violent.
Naga had been speaking to football fan Billy Grant, who had been following England for over 30 years at Home and Away matches.
Billy supposedly confronted a fan that booed players for taking a knee before a friendly match against Romania in Riverside Stadium just last weekend.
Billy then went on to discuss how once the man had been confronted by other fans, he lashed out and hit someone.
He said: “There was basically a welling up on people who said, ‘Can you go away? We don’t like what you’re doing, we hate what you’re doing, can you stand aside?’
“In the end, he left and went somewhere else.”
Munchetty hosting the BBC Radio 5 show at the time of the interview then asked Billy if he knew the booing person was specifically racist.
She asked: “Maybe, and this is what a lot of fans have said who have said they boo, they don’t like to see their football team being political.”
Billy went on to say that football bosses used the political argument as an excuse to get away from having to highlight the importance of racism awareness in sports.
(Image: GETTY)
He claimed that he had spoken to people higher up in the football industry and he claims they said that racism is political and can’t be mixed with the sport.
As listener reactions poured in following the interview, Naga began to read them out.
The key comment read: “Typical BBC trying to portray people who boo as racist and violent, ridiculous.
“You are just propaganda merchants. I find it so funny you think it will work.”
Munchetty hit back at the insinuation: “Well Mr or Mrs anonymous, if you just heard me then, I did put the point forward that perhaps someone was booing because they felt that their football team was making a political statement and wasn’t necessarily racist.
“However, Mr anonymous or Mrs anonymous, what you will have heard from Billy’s story or Billy’s experience is that the person who was booing then tried to strike out at somebody who was older.
“So maybe, just maybe, you may think that is violent.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
