Laurence Fox, the leader of the Reclaim Party and former London mayor candidate, has attempted to criticise the England football captain Harry Kane for planning to wear a rainbow armband for the Euro 2020 clash with Germany.
The Three Lions skipper will wear the armband along with German captain Manuel Neuer for the game at Wembley in honour of Pride Month. Germany’s goalkeeper has worn the armband during all of his side’s three group stage games.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜@HKane will join @DFB_Team's Manuel Neuer in wearing a rainbow captain’s armband for tomorrow’s game at @wembleystadium to mark the end of Pride month, as the #ThreeLions stand in allyship with LGBTQ+ communities around the world. pic.twitter.com/ML8yEnz6Gn
— England (@England) June 28, 2021
Always one to take exception to even the most unoffensive of gestures, Fox thought he would criticise the move from the England team by writing on Twitter: “Not sure we would be seeing them doing this if the Qatar World Cup had gone ahead.
“Hypocrisy is the new heroism.”
Although he does have a valid point about Qatar’s LGBTQ+ discrimination, Fox clearly doesn’t keep up to date with football news as the 2022 World Cup is definitely still taking place in Qatar.
That particular tournament will undoubtedly be embroiled in controversy but Fox’s spectacular self-own made him rife for mockery.
Great to see football man Laurence Fox doing some more of his football tweets. Guess we’ll never really know how a Qatar World Cup would have played out - but unmissable insight every time. pic.twitter.com/Sl6qnVdO5H
— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) June 29, 2021
“See the World Cup?”
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) June 29, 2021
“Which one?”
“Dunno.” pic.twitter.com/e1wsnnJkhG
Looking forward to his explanation of how a double fault earns a free kick
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) June 29, 2021
Does Lozza think Euro 2020, played in Europe in 2021, is in place of World Cup 2022 to be played in … 2022?
— Os Loves the Ocean (@Os_Oris) June 29, 2021
He makes David Cameron look like Alan Hansen
— NewsThump (@newsthump) June 29, 2021
'Alexa, tell me a couple of times England have done OK in a football tournament in my lifetime.' pic.twitter.com/AnmdltTpAG
— Julian Shea (@juliansheasport) June 29, 2021
Fox did eventually delete the tweet and replaced it with another tweet, this time asking when Pride month is in Qatar.
What month is pride month in Qatar? https://t.co/ZnZhKoUxEL
— Laurence Fox ✌🏼🇬🇧✌🏼 (@LozzaFox) June 29, 2021
Last year, it was confirmed that Qatar would allow for rainbow flags to be displayed at the stadiums during the World Cup, despite their strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws
Disappointingly, the Pride flag has been a source of controversy during the Euros. Officials in Munich had asked for the Allianz Arena to display the rainbow colours for Germany’s group game with Hungary in opposition to oppressive homophobic laws imposed by the Hungarian government. Uefa blocked this request on political grounds. Neuer’s was almost investigated by Uefa for wearing the rainbow armbands but the investigation was eventually dropped.
This is hardly the first time that Fox has criticised the England team. Earlier this month he boasted that he wanted the team to lose over his disagreement with the players taking the knee before kick-off to show support for those facing racial injustice around the world.
