Joey Barton, the footballer who helped QPR get back into the Premier League last weekend, isn't actually famous for being a footballer at all. He’s become famous for quoting Neitzshe all over his Twitter feed – not exactly the status quo for professional footballers – and he’s also been spotted backstage at a Morrissey gig refusing chicken (which, to be fair to Barton, is obligatory behavior at a Morrissey gig), and now he’s getting into politics.
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Last night, he appeared on theBBC’s*Question Time, *and promptly caused gasps of shock from the studio audience when he described UKIP as 'not the worst' of four really ugly girls. The point he was trying to make (we think) is that people are disollusioned by mainstream politics and, in comparison, UKIP look appealing to voters. Although, we can't be sure. Mainly we just head him making a clumsy and sexist metaphor about ugly girls that totally drowned out what he was actually trying to say.
Unsurprisingly, UKIP MEP Louise Bours called the comments ‘offensive’, adding that Barton has proved there was some truth in the adage that footballers' brains are ‘in their feet'.
Barton later realised the error of his ways, saying: 'I apologise. I couldn't think of a better one. It's my first time. Maybe I was a little bit nervous,' adding it was going to be ‘all over Twitter’. He wasn’t wrong – Joey Barton’s still trending this morning.
To be fair to Barton, he did have some more measured stuff to say about youth disengagement in politics and what he called ‘disillusioned voters’ who hadn’t made their way to the booth, as well as making a case for a new runway at Heathrow Airport, and an eloquent point about the Iraq war inquiry. But we're not going to remember that, are we? His ‘ugly girls’ comments are going to be the only thing people will be talking about from last night’s program, despite any attempts to redeem himself later. Maybe Joey would do well to think before he speaks next time. Just saying.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.