What’s Going On With The GK Barry Controversy?

This week content creator and I’m a Celeb star GK Barry, and her partner, Portsmouth midfielder Ella Rutherford, took to the WSL Football TikTok page to host the live draw for the upcoming league.

However, due to backlash, the footage of Tuesday’s draw has since been removed from the WSL Football’s YouTube channel and other social media accounts. So what happened? 

Well, throughout the live stream, GK made a series of jokes and comments as she was drawing the teams, leading many to question the professionalism and legitimacy of the cup draw.

 

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Many found GK’s crude banter to be insulting to women’s football, with regards to her lewd comments made throughout the livestream.

However, it was her joke about Tottenham that really fired up fans. Live on the WSL Football account GK recited the anti-Spurs chant “what do we think of Tottenham?”

By reciting this chant, which was popularised by Arsenal fans, GK provoked a huge reaction online. The WSL has since apologised to Tottenham Hotspur regarding the incident, but the media personality has yet to make an official response or public apology of her own.

To make matters worse, a ball she had picked out during the draw was dropped back into the bag by accident and then taken out to be used again. GK reacted by saying, “Am I allowed to do that? I’ve done it now, it’s too late. Oh I picked up the same ball.”

 

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A post shared by Grace (@gkbarry_)

With over 4.1 million followers on TikTok and 1.3 million followers on Instagram, GK was chosen by the WSL to host this draw with hopes of reaching a wider audience through her huge social media following. In the end, it seems this choice was in bad taste given GK’s ‘no-filter’ type humour that ultimately didn’t translate well to this type of sporting live-streamed event.

Many are calling for the draw to be scrapped and re-done in a more appropriate manner, but as of now the teams drawn are finalised for the Cup.

Regarding GK’s behaviour, the response to this incident has varied online. Denise Welsh, GK’s panel co-star on the ITV talk show Loose Women, took to social media in defence of GK saying

“For goodness sake!!! Don’t book Grace then!!! It’s exactly what she does. She’s never going to be a regular football pundit!! It’s like booking Alan Carr and complaining he was too camp!!!”

So, was this incident blown out of proportion?

Words by Leah Foran