‘Embarrassing’! BBC star sparks fury over ‘pathetic’ World Cup admission
Lara Bird sparked fury on social media (Image: BBC)
BBC viewers were furious after Scottish National Party MP Lara Bird appeared on Politics Live and made a shock admission about the World Cup. The politician was asked: “You are half Scottish, half English, were you supporting England the other night?” Bird hesitated as she stuttered: “I, I, I was not supporting England the other night, no.” She added: “The greatest injustice in this whole World Cup is that Scotland will not be playing in the final, obviously.”
After the MP highlighted: “It’ll be a really good final for whoever’s there.” Presenter Vicki Young probed: “Were you actively supporting Mexico or just neutral?” Bird reflected on the World Cup and shared: “I think there’s been a really funny momentum in Scotland at the moment, we’ve all become really passionate Mexican supporters.” As she predicted: “We’ll probably all become very passionate Norweigan supporters, and it’s just what we do in Scotland.”
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The MP was questioned about the World Cup (Image: BBC)
Vicki shared: “I have seen that. I saw Pete Wishart, one of your colleagues, post something about ‘our great neighbours Norway,’ so do you think you will be supporting Norway?”
Bird chuckled as she admitted: “Probably.”
This sparked major backlash from viewers, as LBC presenter Ben Kentish posted the brief interaction and wrote: “Sorry, but I find this beyond pathetic.”
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Taking to the comments, one posted on X/Twitter: “As a Scot, it boils my p***. It’s pathetic and embarrassing.” As another remarked: “If only they put this much effort into their own team… they might make it out the groups.”
While journalist Andrew Neil echoed: “Beyond pathetic. Indeed. But don’t expect a reply. She’ll be too busy burnishing her Norwegian accent.”
Pete Whishart also chimed in with his reaction on social media and stated: “Every World Cup they feel they can tell us or even bully us into who we should support. It’s called ‘football rivalry,’ and for some reason, they will never quite understand it.”
Following Scotland’s elimination from the group stage of the World Cup, King Charles issued a message of commiseration to the team and outgoing manager Steve Clarke.
In his royal statement, the King jokingly acknowledged that traditional sporting rivalries might make it “too much to hope” that the Tartan Army would back England, but still offered well-wishes to England and other Commonwealth realms remaining in the tournament.
The Royal joked: “I fear that traditional sporting rivalries mean it may be too much to hope that the devoted Tartan Army of yours will now cheer with full voice for the three other realms still in contention, but my wife and I nonetheless wish England, Australia and Canada the very best of luck for the battles ahead.”
