Joey Barton's sustained misogynistic attack on Eni Aluko has taken another grim turn, with the former Premier League midfielder disturbingly claiming that the pundit is "in the Joseph Stalin / Pol Pot category".
Sacked as manager of League One club Bristol Rovers back in October, Barton has been widely condemned in recent weeks for a string of aggressively sexist posts on X, with Aluko becoming a particular focus of his toxicity.
On Friday, Barton – who has claimed that women "aren't qualified" to discuss men's football – took aim at Aluko and fellow pundit Lucy Ward as they appeared on ITV's coverage of the FA Cup third-round tie between Crystal Palace and Everton, to notorious British serial killers Fred and Rose West.
The ex-Manchester City and Newcastle player wrote: "How is she [Aluko] even talking about men's football? She can't even kick a ball properly. Your [ITV] coverage of the game...last night took it to a new low. Eni Aluko and Lucy Ward, the Fred and Rose West of football commentary."
ITV responded on Saturday with a statement labelling Barton's remarks "contemptible and shameful".
But, unperturbed, the 41-year-old followed up with another troubling X post on Sunday afternoon. It read: "On reflection, I feel I've been a tad harsh on Eni Aluko by comparing her to Rose West. Had a bit of time to consider the impact of my words after [ITV's] statement. She's clearly in the Joseph Stalin / Pol Pot category. She's murdered thousands if not millions of football fans' ears in the last few years..."
On reflection, I feel I’ve been a tad harsh on Eni Aluko by comparing her to Rose West.Had a bit of time to consider the impact of my words after @itvfootball big statement. She’s clearly in the Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category. 👍She’s murdered hundreds of thousands if not… https://t.co/jX9XpFyAVqJanuary 7, 2024
Clearly, Barton has absolutely lost the plot – and the analogies he's drawn over the last few days have been particularly sickening.
As leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pot orchestrated the Cambodian genocide which resulted in the deaths of up to 2m people between 1975 and 1979.
Some 40 years earlier, as leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin enacted the Great Purge, and some historians argue that he was ultimately responsible for the deaths of more than 20m Russians.
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