Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Utter embarrassment': Stephen Jones panned over 'pretty low' joke

New Zealand's wing Caleb Clarke scores wearing an armband in honour of the late king (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP) (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

Outspoken Sunday Times columnist Stephen Jones has been panned for a joke he made about the name of a recently deceased Maori King.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kiingi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero the Seventh died three days ago at age of 69, surrounded by his wife and three children. The king had been recovering in hospital from heart surgery shortly after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

New Zealand wore black armbands in honour of his passing at Ellis Park in their 31-27 defeat to South Africa in Ellis Park on Saturday.

Video Spacer

Scott Robertson agrees Ethan Blackadder is ‘possessed’ | The Rugby Championship

Video Spacer

Scott Robertson agrees Ethan Blackadder is ‘possessed’ | The Rugby Championship

Jones suggested the length of the late king’s name would have been too long to fit on the All Blacks jersey, had he ever represented New Zealand.

Writing in the newspaper the Welsh rugby pundit wrote: “The All Blacks took the field wearing black armbands in honour of Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero the Seventh, the Maori king who passed away last week. No doubt very sad, although thank God he never made the All Blacks because they would never have space to put his name on a jersey.”

The line hasn’t played well on X, where he has been criticised for his, insensitivity, the fact that he appeared to be making fun of the length of his name and the fact that the joke doesn’t even make sense.

Edward Jenkins posted: ‘Stephen Jones being an utter embarrassment’ alongside a screenshot of the sentence.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Jaysus… That’s pretty low,” wrote one rugby fan, while another posted: “What a dreadful take and an embarrassment to the sport he is. Would he dare write the same about Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor II?”

Squidge Rugby pointed out: “I mean besides everything else the All Blacks jerseys don’t have names on the back and never have.”

One French user wrote: ‘Je vois que Stephen Jones est toujours aussi con’ which translates to ‘I see Stephen Jones is still as stupid as ever’.

A minority came to Jones’ defence, one writing: “Sounds like a harmless joke about him having a long name – maybe could have worded it better but there’s no malice there at all. Certainly not racist.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

 

ADVERTISEMENT

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

HSBC SVNS Vancouver | Men's Day Three Highlights

HSBC SVNS Vancouver | Women's Day Three Highlights

"I would love to play with Siya Kolisi" | HSBC Life on Tour | Vancouver

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

Behind the Scenes with the Stars of the Kenya Rugby Sevens Team | HSBC SVNS Embedded | Episode 7

O2 Inside Line: This Rose | Episode 3 | France Week

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

10 Comments
S
SteveD 174 days ago

Oh really. Typical fake anger from the kiwis. Grow up and stop trying to make anything anti-NZ into a major incident. Anyway, at least the delay let the crowd enjoy the flypast instead of the haka.

D
DS 174 days ago

Really. Jones has made a career out of abusing / demeaning the ABs and NZ in general. People like you enjoy reading his put downs but are super sensitive if it affects your team or country. Jones is a massive hypocrite who would go apoplectic if Wales was ever criticised.

B
BH 175 days ago

No surprises given that he is a disgraceful journalist anyway. Making a bad joke about a dead person is low even for SJ.

T
Terry24 175 days ago

Making bad jokes about certain dead people is ok in his eyes showing how low he really is.

G
GL 175 days ago

Check on the Welsh team Jones and assess any progress in XXI

B
Bruiser 175 days ago

Hes probably still chuckling to himself. He calls it irony

P
Poorfour 176 days ago

It is baffling that he is still employed. The quality of his journalism and analysis has long since reached the point where I simply assume that any opinion he offers is the opposite of what I should believe.

F
Forward pass 173 days ago

You only have to look at sites like this one and like "The ROAR" to know that the worse the journalism the more clicks it gets. Clicks is what life has become all about. Angry clicks are better than happy clicks.

d
dk 175 days ago

I couldn't agree more. If I was as poor at my job as he is at his, I would have been fired years ago.

T
Terry24 176 days ago

Jones is a known xenophobe. He hides it in jokes and disproportionately targets particular groups for criticism. Hes being doing it about Irish/rugby too. Zero surprise to see him mask this racist comment as a 'joke'.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

b
bryan li wong 31 minutes ago
Chiefs head coach apologises to midfielder on 50th appearance

HOW CAN I RECOVER MY LOST CRYPTO (BTC, USDT) investment.

It's very easy when you contact: Trojanhack@qualityservice.com

Hi Guys, I'm Bryan Li wong from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ok let me start this way.

Though At first i was very skeptical when a friend Davies Frank from Chicago Illinois told me about them and how they were able to help him recovered his Crypto Loss during the Covid 19 pandermic.

I was a victim of a Fake Forex Trading Guru Investment online in 2023 and i was so gullible to get scammed to the tone of 254,650 USDT. i believed them after seeing multiples of their trade result online. little did i know they were all scam and i was so foolish to fell for such stunt. i got depressed and my whole world was shattered as a result of my heavy mistakes.

I couldnt' withdraw my USDT profit from them. they came up with stories and they kept demanding for more and more from me and it was them i confirmed further they were syndicates.

it was such a terrible and ugly ordeals i went through.

After contacting TROJANHACK CYBER SECURITY COMPANY, i experienced a life changing recovery process, they were able to trace and recovered all for me within 4 days.

Their team are the best and very good at what they do. which if not could have been my life's greatest mishap. I am forever indebted to this reputable company (TROJANHACK CYBER SECURITY COMPANY) and i know there are thousands of people who are undergoing same situation as mine and for that reason i'd be listing their contact details once again which are as follows:

Email: Trojanhack@qualityservice.com

Whatsapp: +1 8 0 2 681 3837

Telegram: @Trojanhackqservice

1 Go to comments
D
Dominique Wilburn 1 hour ago
Rassie Erasmus names Springboks squad of 56 for March meet-up

It started with a dream—a dream of financial independence, of escaping the grind and securing a future for my family. Like many others, I was drawn to the world of cryptocurrency. The stories of people striking it rich with Bitcoin were everywhere, and I thought, why not me? That’s when I stumbled upon an online investment platform promising astronomical returns. I invested a substantial amount of my savings, believing I was on the path to financial freedom.But within weeks, everything fell apart. The platform vanished overnight. Emails bounced back, phone numbers were disconnected, and my funds were gone. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. The weight of my mistake was crushing I had not only lost my savings but also jeopardized my family’s future. I was drowning in guilt, anger, and despair, unsure of where to turn.That’s when I found Washington Recovery Pro. At first, I was skeptical. How could anyone recover money from anonymous Bitcoin scammers? But I was desperate, and I decided to give them a shot,from the moment I reached out, Washington Recovery Pro was different. They listened to my story with genuine empathy and assured me that they had helped countless others in my situation.They specialized in tracing cryptocurrency transactions, uncovering the identities of scammers, and working with international authorities to recover stolen funds. Their transparency gave me hope. Finally, the breakthrough came. They had traced my funds to a series of wallets and identified the individuals behind the scam. Through their network of legal and law enforcement partners, they initiated a recovery process.The day I received the news that a significant portion of my funds had been recovered was one of the happiest of my life. Washington Recovery Pro had not only given me back my money but also restored my faith in justice.Reach out to them Via..

 Email~WashingtonRecoveryPro@engineer.com WhatsApp ~‪+1 (903) 249‑8633‬ Telegram ~https://t.me/Washingtonrecoverypro

4 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Wales fans all asking same question after performance against Ireland Wales fans all asking same question after performance against Ireland
Search