Fighting For The 96: Why #SunsetNBC Means More To Me

On the weekend of one of the most tragic incidents in English Football history, the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough thirty years ago are fighting for justice in the British courts, Liverpool fans in America are fighting another cause: getting rid of The Sun on NBC's Premier League broadcasts.

Last year, Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs all across the country wrote to NBC asking them to pull the plug on their relationship with The Sun (Which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch) as well as the use of the tabloid and its journalist on premier league broadcasts. The journalist in question? None other than Neil Ashton, who happens to work for The Sun as their Chief Football Insider. Before Neil Ashton joined The Sun, he worked for the Daily Mail. NBC began airing PL games in 2013 when he was employed by the Daily Mail before he joined The Sun.

Unfortunately, NBC did not respond.

As the trial for manslaughter for the 96 lives lost at Hillsborough continues makes the news in England—Liverpool Football Club demanded that those US supporters clubs stop promoting the #SunsetNBC campaign against The Sun's use on NBC Sports. With Liverpool asking OLSC's to stop supporting the #SunsetNBC campaign, which specifically asks NBC to drop Neil Ashton from all PL broadcasts due to the fact that he works for The Sun (or The Scum as I like to call them), the newspaper that slanders Liverpool supporters.

As a Manchester City fan, I sympathize with Liverpool supporters when it comes to The Scum and their brand of journalism over the years. The fact that they are still around, even have one of their own work for NBC on their PL broadcasts makes me wonder why a Murdoch-owned paper appear on NBC. The Scum wrote plenty of lies over the years including their “Coverage” of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The bigotry and hatred and lies does not need to be spread. Nor should be on any television screens, especially the National Broadcasting Company.

While I understand there's money to be made here: they interact with us fans through a marketing company; fans paid the ICC ticket prices; heard their push for us fans to get on TV and social media "to represent the Reds." Because of the actual #ThisMeansMore Liverpool Football Club, fans have soared and drowned, laughed and wept. They have seen and heard, felt and been moved. They have been through the best of times and the worst of times.

But once they called for all OLSC's to stop supporting the #SunsetNBC campaign, that all changed.

They cannot ask them to now be something less, to be spectators, to be paying customers. If they believe their position is in the best interest of LFC, then they'll prove it: put out a welcome banner at Anfield for NBC and The Sun, take down the Total Eclipse banners on the Kop.

My stance is this; I can only go after one person, but the entire campaign got blocked by NBC Sports executives so I keep my distance from trouble as I can get. It's not worth it for me. I still support the campaign due to the fact that I'm not a member of any OLSC in the US. The fact that Liverpool silenced OLSC's from wanting Ashton to get the boot from NBC Premier League broadcasts is as asinine.
Silence is not Scouse, nor is it American. And silence is not appropriate in relationship to the lies and hate of The Sun, which many Liverpool supporters hate more than anything. In fact, the closest thing to The Sun in the US is the New York Post, another Murdoch-owned paper.

Liverpool FC is not the legal and financial entity that owns the name and trademarks, that collects the funds and dispenses dividends. And it's certainly is not the entity that tells its fans in the US to drop their campaign against The Sun, to be silent because it affects their commercial partnerships. But to fans, Liverpool FC is not a brand, just one of many teams from across the Atlantic, with songs to learn and shirts to buy. It is bigger than them and their commercial interests, bigger than them and the inconveniences of people mattering more than profit.

The Sun is hated for a reason. It lied. About Hillsborough. About Liverpool fans.

And it continues to bully, abuse, and discriminate.

It is shameful for the people who work for Liverpool FC to come out in support of someone promoting The Sun.

While Premier League teams like LFC have zero control on who NBC brings in, but I honestly think that Neil Ashton needs to go, badly. Despite the fact he's been there since '13, his jump to The Scum is turning NBC's Premier League Mornings into a shitshow with The Scum riding shotgun.

The reason I support #SunsetNBC is because The Scum doesn't belong on NBC, it doesn't belong anywhere. Why bring in a guy who works for a hateful paper when there are plenty of guys who can work for NBC at a good price?

NBC needs to do the right thing and distance themselves from The Scum and let Neil Ashton go. It's the only way to cater to angry Liverpool fans by disassociating themselves from The Sun and Neil Ashton.

For a detailed history of The Sun being banned in Liverpool, click here.