Comedian Alan Davies has caused controversy and anger amongst Liverpool supporters after he criticised the club’s insistence to never play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
The QI television star received a furious backlash of comments from Liverpool supporters after he ranted on a podcast about their refusal to stage matches on the anniversary of the tragedy, which claimed the lives of 96 LFC fans on April 15th, 1989.
Speaking on his podcast, ‘The Tuesday Club’, Davies said: “What are you talking about, ‘We won’t play on the day’? Why can’t they? My mum died on 22nd August. I don’t stay in all day on 22nd August.
“Do they play on the date of the Heysel Stadium disaster? How many dates do they not play on? Do Man United play on the date of Munich? Do Rangers play on the date when all their fans died in that disaster whatever year that was… 1971?”
The Arsenal supporter also suggested that the April 14th FA Cup semi-final date should have been set aside for Chelsea v Tottenham instead of Liverpool v Everton, to give the Stamford Bridge club an extra day to prepare to face Barcelona in the Champions League next week.
His comments resulted in a wave of fury and some abuse on Twitter. Davies later used the social networking website to defend his statements, posting: “I’m getting tweets from Liverpool fans who have been given the impression that I was disrespectful to those who lost their lives on 15/4/89.
‘Many disagree but I feel that the Liverpool v Everton semi-final could be played on Apr 15. Apologies to those upset by that suggestion.”
Davies also claimed: “I’m getting death threats from people not even born in 1989. It’s OTT [over the top].”
In an attempt to reconcile with the club and its supporters, Davies offered to donate £1,000 to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, but the payment has been refused.
Spokesperson for the campaign, Sheila Coleman, said that the foundation would rather he “educated himself about why people are so sensitive about this” as opposed to donating money, but they have accepted his apology for the “crass and insensitive comments” that were made.
Davies, 46, is due to play a stand-up comedy gig at the Liverpool Empire on September 23rd this year.