Sky News presenter Eamonn Holmes has apologised for comparing violence at West Ham’s home game with Manchester United to the tragedy at Hillsborough.
In a report on the attacks on the Manchester United players’ bus on Tuesday night, Holmes said: “This is going back to the 70s and to the 80s, the type of thing you were seeing that was bad about Hillsborough, for instance.”
The comments come just weeks after an inquest ruled that 96 people had been unlawfully killed at Hillsborough stadium in 1989 and fans had in no way been responsible, contrary to initial claims by South Yorkshire police.
The comments immediately sparked outrage on Twitter from fans calling on Holmes to apologise and the shadow culture secretary Maria Eagle, who has been closely involved in the Hillsborough families’ campaign for justice, offered to meet the presenter to explain what had really happened.
“I’m happy to talk to him and take him through what happened at Hillsborough,” she told the Liverpool Echo.
“I spend a lot of my time counteracting the myths put out by South Yorkshire police to evade their failures. I’m amazed somebody who ought to be aware of the details of current news should be so ignorant about Hillsborough.”
Sky quickly released a statement in which Holmes apologised. However he attracted more criticism for trying to explain the comments and accusing “someone of trying to use me to stir up trouble re the Hillsborough disaster”.
Just being made aware of someone trying to use me to stir up trouble re The Hillsborough disaster . How low , how disgusting.
— Eamonn Holmes (@EamonnHolmes) May 11, 2016
He later tweeted that there was “no comparison” between the events at West Ham and Hillsborough, and issued another “unreserved” apology to anyone who “thought I was making that connection”.
I apologise unreservedly if anyone thought I was making that connection.
— Eamonn Holmes (@EamonnHolmes) May 11, 2016
