Will Buckley, the Observer’s senior sports writer, has roused the Twitter mobs this week thanks to a critical article aimed at BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew centring on Saturday’s Test Match Special interview slot which featured pop star Lily Allen.
Apparently bemused by Agnew’s unabashed fawning over Allen, Buckley suggested in the piece that ”Aggers had positioned himself firmly on the pervy side of things”.
Cue outrage. Buckley’s line proved to be the springboard for several pages of critical comments and a subsequent Twitter storm.
Agnew blankly tweeted: “I gave Will Buckley 24 hrs to apologise for calling me a pervert, and he has declined.” Moments later he told his followers the email address of Buckley’s boss – and Observer sports editor – Brian Oliver, and suggested that anyone who “may feel moved by this” could register their views.
He then admitted that he had “taken being called a pervert quite badly.” No kidding, Aggers.
But hark. Is that the sound of a miniature pop princess jumping into the fray?
Knocking Buckley’s bouncer out of the ground Lily Allen tweeted: ”I dont know one person that agrees with The Observer on this one. Maybe this is Buckley’s attempt at creating a name for himself as the demise of the Observer Monthlys (including Sport) are imminent. Sorry @aggerscricket , I should have left you all alone.”
The spat has now taken a turn for the mainstream, with the Telegraph penning an article on the controversy. The Telegraph? Interested in a story that its vaguely related to Twitter? I never would have guessed.
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