Joey Barton could face government action for vile, sexist comments

Joey Barton could face action by the British government for his vile and sexist outburst on women in football, with Sports Minister Stuart Andrew condemning his comments. Andrew labelled Barton’s comments as “dangerous” and has promised to intervene with social media platforms. Barton’s sexist attacks against women have included calling female ITV pundits Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward “the Fred and Rose West of football”. Fred and Rose West were notorious serial killers. He has also accused unnamed commentators of violating marriages and “what you got from pillow talk” to progress in their careers, and saying women “aren’t qualified” to talk about the game. Speaking to the culture, media and sport select committee, Andrew said the government “condemned” Barton’s remarks. “These are dangerous comments that open the floodgates for abuse and that’s not acceptable,” Andrew said. “But I’m always slightly wary in these situations that these sorts of people want the oxygen and I don’t want to fuel that," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “I want to put on record the amazing contribution that women and girls make to football and sport more generally in this country. “The opportunities for young people to play football at weekends would not exist if it wasn’t for the fact that we had so many volunteers, many of whom are women. So I condemn it.” Andrew promised to take up the batter with X, formerly Twitter, and Meta, the parent company behind Facebook and Instagram. The sports minister also indicated that Ofcom (UK’s communication regulator) could also potentially intervene. Barton, former Manchester City, Newcastle United and QPR player, has been without a job since being sacked by Bristol Rovers in October. He could only guide the club to 16th place after 13 games of the season.