This Liam Neeson palarva.....

Well said that man,

 

Great from Barnes.

 

Well said

But would we be saying that same if a white man gave the same interview

I think not

 

the PC brigade on here need to watch that and understand the message that Barnes is putting out ..... but they will not, they will just keep on trying to witch hunt and try to find a way to pillory or lynch people on here, that simple and that pathetic. Well done John Barnes you have identified a real problem.

 

The whole point of him sharing this story was to say that it was wrong of him. He couldn't help having those feelings, didn't carry it out and regretted ever feeling that way. If he hadn't admitted it no-one would ever have known, it's the actions that are the problem.

 

This story has been covered quite extensively on LBC and some of the callers have had some unbelievable opinions on this. It won't be long before honesty and openness are consigned to the past because once again the outpouring of hand-wringing and outrage that we're seeing mean it's just not worth it.

 

Getting sick of all these witch hunts to be honest. People are not allowed to make any mistakes in the past or should it come to light then it's potentially career ending.

James Gunn and Kevin Hart are two off the top of my head.

We've all said and done tasteless things at some point and people need to get a grip.

 

Did I dream it or was there some recent moral outrage on Twitter aimed at Mason Holgate when an old tweet was found in which he committed the heinous act of calling one of his mates 'gay'?

 

The state of everyone in this thread.

 

The whole point of him sharing the story was to sell a film

 

Where's the uproar about Mark Wahlberg? Someone who was actually convicted of an actual race crime years ago.

 

Fair play to John Barnes. Speaks a lot of common sense there. We live in a crazy world.

 

I agree to an extent, but it's been very interesting hearing all the different viewpoints over the past few days. I initially agreed completely with you, but somebody on 5 Live argued very convincingly that the main problem, as she saw it, was that he didn't explicitly state that it was a deeply racist act. He regrets it, and that's fine, but there seemed to be a lack of awareness of the fundamental problem behind it.

She had a big falling out with John Barnes over it on air, as it happens! As I say, interesting to hear from all sides. I kind of ended up agreeing a bit with everyone.

 

Yes they did, I think it might have been Liverpool fans after he had a spat with one of their players on the field. I dread to think what would come up if you looked at my accounts from when I was 15.

 

Yes there was, dragging up tweets from when he was still in our academy.

Most days on Facebook memories old posts come up from when I was 17/18 & I’m always cringing & deleting stuff, I’d imagine plenty of people of a similar age do the same. I’d hate to think how me & mates having a joke when we’re barely out of school could be twisted if one of us ever became famous

 

We live in an age of "thou shalt not offend"

And let's not also forget those people who are offended on behalf of.

 

I’ve found the best way to behave socially is to offend everyone about anything you can think of. All this being offended carry on is just offensive.

 

Not directly related to this particular incident, but your final statement is one often brought out but I think it misses the point. If I suggest that something, let's say a statement against a minority, is 'offensive' and I'm not in that minority, it doesn't mean I'm offended on behalf of that group. It simply means that the person making the statement about the minority is saying something that isn't acceptable in my view and as a responsible member of society I'd want to point this out. There seems to be a backlash against people standing up for others. If pulling people up on the language they use makes me a 'do gooder' or a 'snowflake' or is 'political correctness gone mad' then fine. I can live with that. I'd rather that than stand by and say nothing.

 

This is the point. One step forward for admitting it, but then 2 steps back for saying there was no racist element to it and trying to claim he'd have done the same thing if it was a white bloke that did it.

 

His comments aside, he makes me chuckle. It's like he's turned into one of the characters he tends to play.

Similar to Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, you could just build a film around his persona.

Don't think he could ever emulate John Wayne though, and play a Chinaman.