‘I apologise for any offence caused to those mourning The Queen’
Former England international footballer Trevor Sinclair has apologised for offending those mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II with an ‘ill-timed’ tweet, on Thursday.
Buckingham Palace confirmed, on Thursday evening, that the queen had passed away peacefully at her residence at Balmoral, earlier in the afternoon.
That same evening, Sinclair drew heavy criticism on social media for tweeting: ‘Racism was outlawed in England in the 60’s & its been allowed to thrive so why should black & brown mourn!! #queen’.
Broadcaster talkSPORT, where Sinclair has recently worked as a pundit, distanced themselves from his remarks after being hit with a barrage of complaints and on Friday afternoon released a further statement confirming he would no be on air for the foreseeable future while an investigation into the circumstances and timing of his tweet was carried out.
‘While we respect the right of Trevor Sinclair to express his opinion on his personal twitter account, talkSPORT does not endorse the tweet,’ the statement read.
Trevor Sinclair will not be on air while we carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances and timing of his tweet.
While we respect the right of Trevor Sinclair to express his opinion on his personal twitter account, talkSPORT does not endorse the tweet.
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 9, 2022
Sinclair deleted his tweet on Friday morning, with his account disappearing soon after. Before it did, he posted an apology: ‘My tweet yesterday was ill timed at a time when the royal family, and many around the world were grieving for the Queen.
‘I apologise for any offence caused to those mourning The Queen.’
My tweet yesterday was ill timed at a time when the royal family, and many around the world were grieving for the Queen. I apologise for any offence caused to those mourning The Queen.
— Trevor Sinclair (@trevor8sinclair) September 9, 2022
Many missed the apology with his account being temporarily being deactivated.
Sinclair’s account is now back on the platform, with his apology tweet visible at the top of his feed. On Saturday, he shared out an image taken during a morning jog and stated, ‘It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s finding the strength to get back up and go again.’
Sinclair played for QPR, West Ham and Manchester City in his club career, and made 12 appearances for England in international football.
