ITV condemn Joey Barton’s ‘vindictive’, ‘contemptible’ and ‘shameful’ comments aimed at Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward amid serial killer comparison
ITV Sport issued a strong statement against Joey Barton for his 'vindictive' social media comments about Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward.
The former Manchester City and Newcastle midfielder has been very vocal against female pundits' involvement in men's football in recent weeks.
Barton has received a swathe of criticism for his comments but has continued to express his opinions on X.
Most recently, he took issue with former Chelsea star Aluko and ex-Leeds forward Ward, with the former on ITV's punditry team of the FA Cup third round clash between Crystal Palace and Everton.
ITV Sport uploaded a clip of Aluko's punditry and Barton responded on X by saying: "How is she even talking about men’s football? She can’t even kick a ball properly. Your coverage of the game EFC last night, took it to a new low."
He then made a vile comparison of the aforementioned female pundits, saying: "Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, the Fred and Rose West of football commentary."
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The Wests were notorious serial killers who murdered 12 women and young girls, and ITV Sport issued a response condemning this.
The statement read: "For Joey Barton, an ex-professional player with a significant social media presence, to target two of our pundits, Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, with such vindictive remarks based on gender and to invoke the names of serial killers in doing so is clearly contemptible and shameful on his part. Football is for everyone."
Barton posted an explicit reply to the broadcaster's statement soon after, saying: "Shut up you f****** idiots. Keep them off the tele. They’re ruining the game for everyone of us.
"It’s what happens when you force under qualified, under prepared, tokenistic people onto us. I will be calling them all serial killers from now on. Every clip you f****** put out.
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"Told you, I don’t care anymore. We’ve all had enough of your ‘Woke’, ‘DEI’ b*******. I hope everyone who agrees with me, gets right after your social media every time you force this nonsense on us. I tried to play nice, you didn’t listen."
Aluko and Ward are just two of a number of female pundits who work in the men's game and women in sport who Barton has spoken about in his social media tirades.
He said former England international Izzy Christiansen "should not be talking about the men’s game and its players with this level of authority" in response to a clip of her discussing if Arsenal need to sign a striker.
Barton also criticised the decision to name Manchester United Women's goalkeeper Mary Earps as BBC Sports Personality of the Year, labelling it 'more f****** nonsense' and claimed he would score '100 out of 100 penalties' against her.