Sunset NBC

Date: May 4th 2018

Recipients:

Comcast Board of Directors

Brian Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation

Alisa Shudofsky – Senior Vice President, Compliance

Mark Lazarus – Chairman, NBC Broadcasting & Sports, NBCUniversal

Greg Hughes – Senior Vice President, Communications

Jon Miller – President, Programming, NBC Sports & NBCSN

Dan Masonson – Vice President, Communications

Gaby Nuñez – Director, Sports Publicity

Stephen Burke – EVP and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group

Adam Littlefield – Senior Producer of Live Content for English Premier League

Sam Flood – Executive Producer & President, Production

Pierre Moossa – Coordinating Producer, NBC Sports Group Premier League

Dan Steir – SVP & Sr. Coordinating Producer

Dan Lovinger – EVP, Advertising Sales, NBC Sports Group

Ken Goss – SVP, Remote Operations & Production Planning NBC Sports, NBCSN

Rick Cordella – EVP and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group

Joe Prince-Wright, NBC Sports presenter

Chris McCloskey – Vice President – NBC Sports Group Communications

Alex Rozis – Senior Director – NBC Sports Group Communications

Carol Ko – Senior Director – NBC Sports Group Communications

Jamie Palatini – Publicist – NBC Sports Group Communications

Leah Luchetti – Publicist – NBC Sports Group Communications

Stephanie Herring – Publicist – NBC Sports Group

Laura Hannon – Sr. Director – NBC Sports Boston

Maureen Quilter – Senior Director – NBC Sports Philadelphia, Communications

Jeff Nuich – Senior Director – NBC Sports Chicago

Jaimee Bremner – NBC Sports Northwest

Jay Dela Cruz – Director, NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California

Dear Sirs and Madams:

We the undersigned supporters of English club football, as representatives of the below-named Supporters Clubs, write today to express our shared concern over NBCUniversal’s decision to provide a platform to Neil Ashton, the Chief football reporter for the UK tabloid The Sun, on NBC Sports Network’s (“NBCSN”) program entitled ‘Best of the Backpages,’ as well as through his role contributing to NBC Sports’ reporting on world football.

Put plainly, Ashton’s employment with The Sun and his use of NBCSN’s airwaves to amplify The Sun’s reach to North America, raise substantial questions about his character and credibility. Likewise, NBCSN’s decision to permit a Sun employee to participate in the creation of the network’s Premier League coverage reveals what can only be viewed as a troubling lack of understanding with respect to The Sun’s legacy in Britain and the reputation it has earned among football supporters across the world.

The Sun has time and again proven itself incapable of acting in good faith, instead revealing a commitment to sensationalist journalism, careless reporting and the publication of known falsities for the purpose of selling newspapers. Its vile reporting on the Hillsborough Disaster – purporting to reveal ‘The Truth’ while peddling outright falsities – revealed The Sun to be wildly unfit for consumption, and there it stays.

As we now know, due to the tireless efforts of Hillsborough families who were too long denied justice, the events of April 15, 1989, were shaped by shocking and unconscionable failures of law enforcement officials, causing the deaths of 96 football fans and the infliction of irrevocable harm to those fans that survived. As we now know, the events following April 15, 1989, were shaped by the willingness of South Yorkshire Police to falsify witness statements, to proffer falsified results of blood alcohol tests, to alter police reports, to consistently and repeatedly lie so that suspicions of guilt would fall on the victims of the disaster, while the failures and culpability of local police would remain shrouded from public view.

The success of the South Yorkshire Police’s twenty-three-year coverup relied on publications like The Sun to parrot the “official” story provided by the police. The Sun played a crucial role in spreading the lies surrounding Hillsborough, provided significant political cover for public officials who had breached the public trust, and most disgustingly laid blame for the deaths of 96 football fans at the feet of survivors and the 96 themselves.

The apologies issued by the paper in more recent years – attempts at mea culpa some 15 years after the 96 perished – have done little to assure the undersigned that The Sun and its employees have any value to add to sports journalism. Such apologies, declaring that it is time to move forward, chiding Hillsborough families and Liverpool supporters for remaining dedicated to the task of holding power to account, ring hollow and have not been accepted on Merseyside. Knowing now the role that The Sun played in slandering football fans whose only sin was going to a football match, how can NBCSN be comfortable with promoting the viewpoint of a Sun employee? How can NBCSN expect those with knowledge of Hillsborough to remain dedicated to watching NBCSN or NBC Sports online streams when the content provided reflects work done by Mr. Ashton?

Ultimately, the preceding summary of The Sun’s mistreatment of Hillsborough victims and assistance in furthering the cover up has been documented elsewhere, so objections such as the ones voiced here can surely not be a surprise to Mr. Ashton or your network. NBCSN itself covers the annual Hillsborough memorials before matches at Anfield, and has discussed the impact of Hillsborough on English football. Former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann, while on an NBCSN segment entitled ‘Remembering Hillsborough,’ criticized British media for its Hillsborough reporting. While Didi neglected to name The Sun specifically, the insinuation was clear. NBCSN’s programming has honored the victims of Hillsborough, has conceded that The Sun and others lied, and presents the history of Hillsborough as the tragedy it most certainly was, and as one of the most challenging and destructive events in LFC’s history. In no small part because of the lasting impact on supporters who were being told time and again by The Sun that they were to blame for the deaths of their brothers, sisters, fathers, sons, friends. Why, then, must there be any debate over whether The Sun still merits a seat at the English football roundtable? They forfeited that place long ago.

The people of Liverpool and, by extension, the global network of Liverpool Football Club supporters, have spent the better part of three decades advocating for the memories of those we lost at Hillsborough. In commenting on the ESPN 30 for 30 Hillsborough episode, US sports writer Matt Yoder, writes: “You can see the struggle for justice in their eyes and the toll that…years of mourning and injustice has taken. Looking into their eyes shakes you to the core and tells you this is far more than a soccer story, it’s a story about human rights.”

It is not only on Hillsborough where the The Sun has been on the wrong side of human rights. The same Sun editor who posted the lies about the victims of that tragedy called Ross Barkley, a player of African descent, a gorilla and displayed his photo alongside that of the animal. That racist jibe was accompanied by further slurs on the City of Liverpool and resulted in The Sun being completely banned by Everton Football Club. Clubs such as Tranmere and Chester and 70 supporters groups belonging to the Football Supporters Federation, whose membership is over 500,000 fans, also joined the boycott. The Sun has never limited its scope to only English football, of course. None other than the United Nations Human Rights Director brought attention to the tabloid after it called migrants

“cockroaches” and advocated the use of gunboats to stop people fleeing bloodshed and poverty. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance highlighted The Sun’s habitual use of “offensive, discriminatory and provocative terminology” toward minorities, including Muslims and the LGBTQ community.

This pattern of hateful rhetoric from The Sun is obviously counter to your stated corporate values: “At NBCUniversal, we’re imagining and creating the world we want to see. Innovative. Inclusive. Better for our viewers and communities.”

NBCSN has had enormous influence in growing interest for European football in America, and on the question of whether The Sun should have any influence over our conversations about this sport we all love, we urge you to listen, to lead, and to uphold your own values.

Absent action removing Ashton and The Sun itself from NBCSN’s programming, on cable, radio and online, the undersigned will be recommending to their Supporters Clubs that Premier League coverage on NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports apps should be avoided and that further protests should be undertaken to highlight this issue. We cannot in good conscience continue our support of your programming so long as you continue your association with The Sun and its employees.

Respectfully Submitted,

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – New York City

Signee Name: Gareth Watford

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Orlando, Florida

Signee Name: Rob Bickerstaff

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Signee Name: Emily Cizinski

Signee Title: OLSC Co-Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Signee Name: Joseph Fleming, Jr. and Nathan Gilmer

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman and Vice Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Chicago

Signee Name: Kevin Achettu

Signee Title: OLSC Co-Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Denver

Signee Name: Eben Dennis

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Indianapolis

Signee Name: Trey Higdon & Bryan Smith

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman & Vice Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Cincinnati

Signee Name: Kevin Jackson

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Saint Louis

Signee Name: Isabel Briones

Signee Title: OLSC Chair

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – San Francisco

Signee Name: Socorro Franco and Aman Parikh

Signee Title: OLSC Chair and Secretary

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Milwaukee

Signee Name: Jo Jones & Andy Braun

Signee Title: OLSC President & Vice President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Washington, D.C.

Signee Name: Nick Coughlin

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Boston

Signee Name: Ian Gunniss

Signee Title: OLSC Chairperson

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Los Angeles

Signee Name: Brian Montano

Signee Title: OLSC Chair

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Richmond, Virginia

Signee Name: Ryan Drake

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – New Haven, CT

Signee Name: Andrew Shetty and Michael Greer

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman and Vice-Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – San Diego, CA

Signee Name: Steven McGlynn

Signee Title: OLSC Chair

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Atlanta, GA

Signee Name: Michael Crump

Signee Title: OLSC Co-Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – South Carolina

Signee Name: Jim Lynch

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Dallas/Ft. Worth

Signee Name: Austin Greer

Signee Title: OLSC Board Member

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – The Palm Beaches

Signee Name: Glen Hart

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Phoenix, Arizona

Signee Name: Alfonso González

Signee title: OLSC President

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – San Francisco Bay Area

Signee Name: Philip Ko

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Columbus

Signee Name: Matthew Fisher

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporters Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Seattle

Signee Name: Jeff Danner

Signee Title: OLSC Secretary

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – San Antonio

Signee Name: Shane Falkingham

Signee Title: OLSC Chairman

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Raleigh

Signee Name: Ken Kendra

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Tampa Bay

Signee Name: Mindy Mallory

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Detroit

Signee Name: Daniel Marcaccio

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Carlsbad, CA – North San Diego County

Signee Name: Amy Kate Sokoll

Signee Title: OLSC Chairwoman

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Austin

Signee Name: Steven L Wilson

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Charlotte NC

Signee Name: Lauryn Bewlay, Nick Zvanut, Levi Anthes, & Carlos Quevedo

Signee Title: OLSC President, Treasurer, Secretary, & Founder

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Durham Region

Signee Name: Wayne Banks

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Toronto

Signee Name: Dave Ferrisey

Signee Title: OLSC President

Supporter Group Name: Official Liverpool Supporters Club – Philadelphia

Signee Name: Mark Jenkinson

Signee Title: OLSC Chairperson