Piers Morgan and Laura Woods echo sentiments of Burnley skipper Ben Mee amid 'White Lives Matter' controversy

Piers Morgan is among the high profile names to have echoed the sentiments of Burnley skipper Ben Mee in light of last night's controversy.
Laura WoodsLaura Woods
Laura Woods

The Burnley captain was applauded for his handling of the situation after an aircraft carrying a banner with the message "White Lives Matter Burnley" was flown over the Etihad Stadium.

As both sets of players were taking a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the sound of the plane could be heard above.

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The obnoxious stunt clearly hurt and upset Mee, who spoke eloquently and passionately about the subject in the aftermath of the 5-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City.

Piers MorganPiers Morgan
Piers Morgan

His response, which stated that he was 'embarrassed and ashamed' by the lengths a small minority of so-called supporters had gone to in a bid to cause such contention, was unsurprisingly trending on social media.

"Well said Ben Mee. That's leadership for you." Read a tweet from former England striker Gary Lineker. Trevor Sinclair added: "Humbled by Ben Mee’s interview. Really encouraging."

The incident led to some of the nation's leading broadcasters weighing in on the topic. Laura Woods, speaking on her breakfast show on talkSPORT, said: “This creates even more of a divide.”

“I was really gutted when I saw it.”

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“For once, I thought we were moving in the right direction.”

“It reminds us that there’s so much work to be done to get equality.”

City forward Raheem Sterling simply posted #TimeForChange on his Twitter account before Morgan had his say on Good Morning Britain.

"Honestly if that’s the way you think, you are ignorant, and you need to find out what it means, why Black Lives Matter has become a hashtag, what it’s about," he said.

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"If you honestly think your response should be 'white lives matter', you don’t get it. You just don’t get it. So you need to find out.

"Educate yourself, you’re part of the problem," Piers continued. "You’re exactly what they’re talking about, the protesters.

"When they protest about people just not being aware, this is what they mean. If your gut reaction is 'white lives matter' that’s the problem, right there. So be better, educate yourselves. It’s not hard, just find out."