James O’Brien blasts right-wing media 'hypocrisy' over Qatar World Cup
18 November 2022, 14:39 | Updated: 18 November 2022, 19:49
James O'Brien destroys Daily Mail 'hypocrisy'
An indignant James O’Brien unveiled the duplicitous nature of right-wing media after a columnist attacked Gary Lineker for his Qatar World Cup role.
James O'Brien began by identifying a column in the Daily Mail by columnist Jan Moir in which she goes after liberals, claiming they “mislaid their morals over Qatar”.
James claimed the article, which features a photo of Gary Lineker, is “a masterclass in how right-wing media in this county works”.
READ MORE: UK government accused of 'complicity' in Qatar human rights abuses through £3.4bn arms sales
He then went on to ask listeners whether they had heard of dmg events - the events arm of the Daily Mail publisher.
“Guess where The Daily Mail events business opened an office in 2017?”
“…Doha”, he answered.
James added: “Here is an invitation, from one of the highest paid columnists, to you to get cross with Gary Lineker for going to Qatar to commentate on the football World Cup.
“Published in a newspaper that has an events arm literally boasting about being the first events business to open in Qatar.”
FIFA has drawn immense criticism for hosting the World Cup in Qatar, a country which is embroiled in scandals from the deaths of migrant workers to their discriminative LQBTQ laws.
Gary Lineker will lead the BBC’s coverage of the Qatar World Cup however the former England striker has promised his coverage will highlight issues surrounding the controversial tournament.
“I mean rarely do you come across such a beautiful example of the contempt in which the Daily Mail and all of its acolytes and the broadcasting equivalents hold their audience - absolute contempt", James said.
He continued: “You might sometimes think I exaggerate [about] how diabolical the influence of this kind of so-called journalism is on our country but that is one of the best examples you’ll ever find.”
“Football - I think it’s actually much messier than I previously thought", he added.
