In the wake of the soccer WAGs Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy epic feud, where Rooney accused Vardy of leaking her private Instagram posts to the Sun, the hashtag #dontbuythesun trended once again.
Forget Coleen Rooney or Rebekah Vardy. The problem here is the people who own, work for, write for or buy and read the Sun. All facilitating something which does untold damage to people’s lives and to society as a whole. #dontbuythesun
— Bobby Gant (@Bobby_Gant) October 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/Addyboombatty/status/1181884208177922048
Amidst all the LOLZ of the Rooney/Vardy beef, it’s important to remember what a stain on our country The Sun is. #dontbuythesun #jft96 pic.twitter.com/keyHQ2f6ZG
— McGuire X=💩 (@mcguireonfire) October 9, 2019
For those not in the know, the Sun—Britain’s best-selling newspaper and popularly nicknamed “the Scum”—is a tabloid with a controversial reputation, which includes a long history of xenophobia, racism, and questionable journalistic practices.
It really is time to stop this poisonous rag doing more damage to the UK.
— StrongerStabler (@StrongerStabler) October 9, 2019
Convince your newsagents, petition your friends & family – Let’s stop Rupert Murdoch and tThe Sun #dontbuythesun #totaleclipseofthesun pic.twitter.com/VM3V7O2P4J
Who in the hell is still buying this filthy rag? It’s 2019.. there’s actual news out there.. This should’ve died in the 90’s (And I’m being generous)#dontbuythesun
— Craig Wilson (@lilbitcheeky) October 9, 2019
Always nice to see #dontbuythesun trending. Which fuckwits still buy and read it?
— Tom Eyre (@TomEyre78) October 9, 2019
Best known for its appalling coverage of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster, a football match where 96 people were killed and 766 more injured in the Liverpool stands, the Sun chose to blame those fans for the deaths rather than the local police who failed to enact appropriate crowd control measures.
Its coverage included false allegations against the fans, smearing them as hooligans, and accusing them of attacking the police and urinating on the victims. The result of which has been an almost city-wide boycott of the newspaper ever since, with many Liverpudlians even burning any copy they’re given for free.
This started a long time ago. #dontbuythesun pic.twitter.com/QXC32sGvSF
— Jolyon Rubinstein (@JolyonRubs) October 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/BANGONDOOR/status/1181107325492482048
https://twitter.com/debbiebrannan5/status/1182054495322333187
Just a reminder. #DontBuyTheSun pic.twitter.com/vL9SrHSsGM
— All Everton (@AIlEverton) October 9, 2019
Naturally, Liverpudlians and football fans permeated the hashtag, with many wondering what took everybody else so long.
https://twitter.com/Lilyontheroof/status/1182022378756419585
All ppl from #Liverpool know instinctively what to do. All @UKLabour voters know what to do #dontbuythescum #dontbuythesun https://t.co/bjO671iX59
— #ILovetoBoogie (@trexfan2) October 9, 2019
Well done to @billybragg
— #ILovetoBoogie (@trexfan2) October 9, 2019
Sticking up for Scousers, Football fans everywhere #jft96 #YNWA #dontbuythesun https://t.co/rxCo6TpHts
Today my apprentice got me a free copy of The Sun from the petrol station. I had to very politely educate him as to why, as a Liverpool fan, I found it offensive. I also told him if he ever got me one again I would shove it where The Sun dont shine. #dontbuythesun
— coddy (@bigcodfish) October 9, 2019
The paper’s history of racism was also featured prominently in the renewed movement, with a reminder of the infamous article by provocateur Katie Hopkins in which she referred to migrants as “cockroaches” and “feral humans” who were “spreading like norovirus.”
Hopkins and the paper were condemned by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, which said the language compared to that used in the lead-up to the Rwandan genocide.
https://twitter.com/gudeninan/status/1180857920348663808
Don’t understand why anyone reads this racist idiotic hateful rag #dontbuythesun
— Éowyn (@lovegen19) October 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/Lurchtheperch/status/1182017261026066433
https://twitter.com/thebakerstron/status/1174364517628862464
There were also references to the multiple phone-hacking scandals the Sun has been implicated in, with some suggesting that maybe Vardy really didn’t leak the stories and that the Sun hacked her Instagram instead.
https://twitter.com/tomented_one/status/1182065460277338113
https://twitter.com/SueH222/status/1182027060614746113
https://twitter.com/tomented_one/status/1182064731768725505
A couple of Twitter users did think of one reason to buy the Sun—Brexit is coming and with it a potential shortage of toilet paper.
#dontbuythesun – until, as predicted, we run out of toilet paper after #Brexit. The paper’s already full of shit anyway.
— Bruce Paley #StopGenocideInGazaNow #FBPE#ToriesOut (@ThatEvilLife) October 9, 2019
#dontbuythesun is trending. But if there really is a post-Brexit toilet paper shortage, there may be no alternative.
— Philip Hodgson (@bpusability) October 9, 2019
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