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Everton bans The Sun from all areas of club's operation

Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

Everton is taking action after The Sun scored another own goal in northwest England.

On Saturday, Everton announced The Sun is banned from Goodison Park, the USM Finch Farm training ground, and all areas of the club's operation after the tabloid published a column by Kelvin MacKenzie that compared Ross Barkley, whose grandfather is Nigerian, to a gorilla.

The column was published after Barkley's solicitor confirmed his client "was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a stranger who approached him on Sunday evening."

Merseyside Police are investigation the allegation of a racial hate crime, and MacKenzie has been suspended from The Sun, which apologised through a News UK spokesperson, calling the views expressed by the columnist "wrong, unfunny, and not the view of the paper."

In the column, MacKenzie wrote: "Perhaps unfairly, I have always judged Ross Barkley as one of our dimmest footballers. There is something about the lack of reflection in his eyes which makes me certain not only are the lights not on, there is definitely nobody at home. I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo. The physique is magnificent but it's the eyes that tell the story."

Adjoining pictures of Barkley and a gorilla accompanied the column, including the caption: "Could Everton's Ross Barkley represent the missing link between man and beast?" Another caption read: "Here's why they go ape at Ross."

MacKenzie also wrote: "The reality is that £60,000 a week and being both thick and single, he is an attractive catch in the Liverpool area, where the only men with similar pay packets are drug dealers and therefore not at nightclubs, as they are often guests of Her Majesty."

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson gave a statement to Merseyside police over what he called "racist comments" in The Sun, and delivered a message to Everton, imploring the Toffees to cut connections with the tabloid.

"I am just pleased that they have listened to my plea and the plea of the vast majority of fans who wanted this to happen," Anderson said, according to the Liverpool Echo's Liam Thorp. "This sends a firm signal out to the media that in Liverpool, if you attack one of us, you attack all of us.

"We stand by the Hillsborough families and we stand by Ross Barkley and the people of Liverpool who have all been attacked by this newspaper. Enough is enough and this is the right decision."

Everton's ban of The Sun came on the 28th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 supporters were unlawfully killed in a crush as Liverpool played Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-finals. MacKenzie was the tabloid's editor at the time and oversaw a notorious front page that accused the Reds' fans of picking the pockets of victims and urinating on "brave cops."

Apologies have never been accepted by bereaved families, and The Sun was banned from Liverpool's premises in February.

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