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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Daniel Blackham

John Terry interview pulled by TV partner after "tone deaf" Roman Abramovich comments

Chelsea legend John Terry has seen an interview with Poland's Premier League rights holder Canal Plus Sport cancelled over a social media post the defender made supporting Roman Abramovich.

Terry posted to Twitter and Instagram this week to show his support for the Russian billionaire, who put Chelsea up for sale this week.

There have been calls made within parliament for the government to sanction Abramovich, as they have with a Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov.

But Abramovich, who owns a £150million home in London, is yet to receive any sanction from the government.

However, the Russian billionaire has made the decision to put Chelsea up for sale after 19 years as owner of the club.

Is the Premier League doing enough to support Ukraine? Have your say in the comments...

John Terry won a haul of trophies during Roman Abramovich's ownership of Chelsea (Darren Walsh/Getty Images)

In the aftermath of Abramovich's statement, tributes poured in from Blues fans, with Terry then adding his own.

The former centre-back, who is employed by the club to work in the academy, posted an image of himself with Abramovich lifting the Premier League title with the caption: "The Best," with a series of blue hearts.

That post was extremely controversial considering Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week and the circumstances surrounding Abramovich's sale.

And now, Terry is facing repercussions for that post, with Canal Plus Sport cancelling the broadcast of an interview with the former defender.

The interview, which was pre-recorded, was canned after Canal Plus Sport deemed the social media post to be "tone deaf", according to journalist Jakub Krupa.

And it isn't just the Polish TV station to take issue with Terry's tweet, with Labour MP Chris Bryant also calling on the coach to take the post down.

He replied to the tweet with one of his own, writing: "This is appalling. I think John Terry you should take this down ASAP. The people of Ukraine are being bombed, shelled and murdered while you celebrate Abramovich."

Bryant spoke in the House of Commons earlier this week to urge the government to sanction Abramovich, and to criticise Terry for praising him. He said: "Some of us are anxious about why we're not going further on the sanctioning of individuals.

Roman Abramovich is currently courting offers for Chelsea and is believed to want £3billion for the club (AFP via Getty Images)

"It's a mystery to me why Roman Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned. The Government itself knows he's been engaged in illicit activity and he's a person of concern to the government, which is why they've not been encouraging him to come to the UK.

"I don't know why Alisher Usmanov has not yet been sanctioned. He's been sanctioned by the EU but not by us.

"He owns Sutton Place, I don't know why we don't seize that asset. I don't know why the UK has not yet seized a single yacht, or a flat, or a property of any kind, whilst over countries in Europe are able to do that.

"Finally, I wonder whether she [Conservative MP Nadine Dorries] would condemn John Terry today.

"I don't know whether she's seen this, but he has posted today a photo of himself with Roman Abramovich, who is one of Putin's cronies, what will the people of Ukraine think of the former England football captain?"

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