Reports on Roy Hodgson’s “racist” joke is angering the England boss and his squad,
The joke, which was told to right-back Chris Smalling in order to explain that he needed to pass the ball to in-form winger Andros Townsend more, reportedly filtered out of the locker room via a few of the other players. According to the BBC, the joke “revolves around an astronaut and a monkey on a Nasa mission. The monkey performs all the tasks requested by mission control, with the punchline being that the astronaut’s only role is to feed the monkey.”
Hodgson apologised if any offence was caused, with Townsend tweeting: “I don’t know what all this fuss is about. No offence was meant and none was taken!”
While it all seems completely harmless, it has nonetheless been picked up by the tabloid newspapers and has threatened to overshadow England’s victory against Poland earlier this week, which has secured their place in the Rio 2014 World Cup.
Striker Wayne Rooney expressed his anger at the furore surrounding the joke, saying:
“To try and pin some form of label on him is absolutely ridiculous.
“Roy spoke to Andros straight away and he took no offence whatsoever. Hopefully that’s now the end of the matter.”
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