‘Obscene’ Jimmy Savile chants featured in a drama starring Steve Coogan have infuriated Leeds United fans, who demand an apology from the BBC for causing ‘horror, misery and suffering’ to sufferers of sexual abuse.
Angry Leeds United supporters are demanding an apology from the BBC for what they see as erroneous and harmful sequences in the Steve Coogan dramatization of the Jimmy Savile affair, which they believe have rekindled victim chants inside Elland Road.
The Leeds United Supporters Network head, Clive Miers, claimed that since the show is screening this year, the number of shouts that cause “pain, misery and sorrow” for all sexual abuse survivors—not just those who were abused by Savile—has increased.
Upon contacting the BBC over this matter, he was informed that the mention of shouts within the stadium was founded on “first-hand accounts” and was meant to demonstrate how rumors of Savile’s transgressions had been “widely disseminated for many years prior to the truth ultimately coming to light following his passing.”
“This is just not accurate,” Miers stated, citing a specific scenario in which Coogan’s character, Savile, was questioned by his biographer why Leeds supporters were chanting that Savile would mistreat visiting fans in the morgue.
“I have attended over 2,000 games,” Miers declared. “We have over 9,000 members across 46 Leeds fans’ clubs that are under our umbrella, and nobody remembers hearing anything.”
