Ian Wright apologises after backlash to what he did on MOTD

Former footballer turned pundit Ian Wright apologises after receiving backlash to what he did at the end of MOTD on Saturday night.

Arsenal fans took to hit out at the three Match of the Day pundits for their hilarious mocking of Alexandre Lacazette and his ‘world record’ scream.

Presenter Gary Lineker and fellow pundits Ian Wright and Dion Dublin couldn’t help but take the piss out of Lacazette making a loud scream during the Gunners’ Premier League encounter with Burnley last weekend.

The French forward could be heard when he went down under a challenge from Erik Pieters in the second half of the match, although he was soon able to get up and carry on with the game – which played out to a 1-1 draw.

If you didn’t see it. #LacazetteScream pic.twitter.com/43Azz8LEAp

— 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 (@1904Irrelevants) March 7, 2021

Wright has since revealed that he apologised to Lacazette, admitting that he went too far when mimicking his scream.

“We were digging out the screaming. My biggest mistake was screaming at the end. It was stupid,” Wright said on Wrighty’s House Podcast.

“It wasn’t a problem for Gary Lineker, it wasn’t a problem for Dion Dublin, but at the same time I have to realise what it means for the Arsenal fanbase to feel like one of their own is digging them out.

“I can only say I’m digging out screaming. We’re talking about people who are screaming and get up and play on.”

Wright then confirmed that he reached out to Lacazette to apologise and makes things right.

“The main thing was making it right with Lacazette, I’m not bothered about what comes back in terms of digging out about it, but I needed to make sure he was ok with it, and he was,” he added.

“So you hit up Laca?” Wright’s co-host then asked.

“Absolutely,” Wright replied.

“And what was the thing you said? He was just like it’s nothing don’t worry about it?” his co-host asked.

“Yeah, [Lacazette said] ‘it’s nothing man, that’s nothing bro’. To the point where he said ‘I’m glad you’re ok as well’, you know what I mean that kind of joke.”

Wright is known to be an ambassador of the Arsenal brand in recent years through his work as a pundit and presenting various material through the club’s media channels.

He played host on a video where he interviewed Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in which they spoke about life at the Emirates as a star striker.

He has also was the face for promotional material with Adidas, Arsenal’s kit provider.

Clarets boss Sean Dyche mocked the screams after the match, and they were also a subject of much mickey taking on BBC’s Match of the Day when Lineker introduced a ‘scream-o-meter’ to measure how loud they were.

“This season we’ve really noticed that footballers do scream a lot when they’re touched, even very mildly,” said Lineker during the programme.

“But I think we may have the scream of the season.”

Over the video of Lacazette’s tumble, his yells and their measurement on the ‘scream-o-meter’, Lineker turned to Wright and added: “It’s a world record Ian, isn’t it?”

Dublin then pointed out that Lacazette was fine to carry on in the game, Lineker added: “Yes. No Lacazette was hurt in the filming of the incident.”

Then at the very end of the programme, Lineker said: “We’re all off to practice our screaming,” prompting all three ex-players to yell out, with Lineker even falling off his chair and grabbing hold of his leg.

Burnley boss Dyche was in a sarcastic mood when discussing the screams after the match, saying: “The screaming, some real good screaming today.

“Some real good screaming today, on the scream-o-meter probably the highest I’ve heard for a long time and there’s some pretty high ones.”

We see you Alexandre Lacazette, and we raise you… 😂

Watch #MOTD on @BBCiPlayer #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/9ZMZSrmKIU

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 6, 2021

Fans reacted as Ian Wright apologises after backlash to what he did on MOTD…

@lpool39: Come on! Get a grip

@Greenwitch44: Apology accepted,but still pissed,we’re up against so many factors, having one of our own behave like that was really hurtful .

@The_RedCannon: We all treat Arsenal as its our family, we can slag off our family and point out thier faults and thats fine, but if someone else does it then we wont have it and this is football fans mentality and why we bicker so much

@afcjxmes: Glad they’ve sorted it between them, not that deep

@IamKitto0: Thing is he will always be hyper ready to take shots at Arsenal players (not the first time he’s shown this behaviour) but if it’s from other team like Spurs let’s say if time comes to mock Kane or Son for diving he will seal shut coz Lineker sits there

@Artsenalszn: He has fucked up already, we don’t care

@ArsenalRelated1: Expected better from wrighty given his friendship with Auba and Lacca……other players have been screaming like that throughout the season, yet they only dig out Lacca

@uBeRToKS: Was a low blow

@Dzivha_Musolwa: he really should’ve known better

@bradderz14: tbh you wouldn’t have seen wright or his teammates back in the day doing anything of the sort. Hopefully it’s a wake up call to laca and others because no ones likes watching people roll around and scream for no reason especially for your own team. Deserved a mocking.

@GoonerJag: Took him long enough

@mike_b8_larrik: It was really distasteful coming from a legend. Really bad

@Adam69510620: Fuck me it’s abit of banter…. what is this world coming to!

@KieranGunner93: Woke bunch of fucking 👉❄

@arsena_lad: Ian wright has done more for Arsenal than any of us could ever do in 10 lifetimes and some people out here saying we won’t forgive, idiotic behaviour

@theAEW2: The way everyone’s acting as if players don’t do that every week and it’s only arsenal is just ridiculous. If anything he’s been forced to do that because the referees refuse to give us free kicks because they are corrupt as fuck

@LoRd_HIGHbury: No apology needed here. If a player or any fan cannot take jolly good banter then he should go wank themselves.

@49FortyNine05: This is what happens when your team is not doing well. Every single thing becomes an insult. Every single thing feels like an affront. And fans need scapegoats or someone to blame for all the bad results. This is just the beginning of #TrustTheProcess. Humor is dead!