Wayne Lineker has broken his silence after being met with "vile" chants when he came on stage at Peter Crouch's sold-out event at Wembley Arena on Saturday night.
The Ocean Beach owner, brother of England legend Gary, was a guest at the third installment of 'Crouchfest' - a live edition of his podcast with Chris Stark and Steve Sidwell.
12,000 fans turned out and the likes of Abbey Clancy, Tom Grennan and Jermain Defoe were among the stars who showed up.
But Lineker's appearance did not go down well and he received chants of "paedo" as he sat down and was interviewed by Crouch and his co-hosts.
Advert
The chants were so loud that Lineker couldn't hear the question he was being asked at one point.
They attempted to move past the chorus but the damage had already been done and it was the main talking point from the event.
Lineker felt the need to address the chants he received, hitting back and branding his experience as "completely and utterly devastating".
He also called for others to be kind in the future as "others" are not as "thick-skinned" as him.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Lineker wrote: "I know I’m usually a bit of a joker on social media but today doesn’t feel so fun!
"Sooo I was invited by my good friend Peter Crouch and Chris Stark to be a guest on their iconic event Crouchfest at Wembley Arena last night ..As you can imagine I was blown away by the invitation to join them onstage and was so excited to be part of it!
"What should have been a bit of fun turned in to what I can only describe as a scene of Mob Mentality against me, thousands of people in unison calling me a ‘peado’ to be exact! Can you imagine that being you, your dad, your son, your brother, your mate or anyone you love and care about having to endure that on stage.
"Love me or hate me living in party world at my age..but to call me something so disgusting is just completely and utterly devastating and the lowest level of wit, judgement and trolling.
"On the way to the event I was chatting to various groups of lads who were asking for photos and what I thought being genuine. The very same lads were calling me a peado 2 hours later ..How did it end with a stadium of people all heckling me with such a vile term (football fans or not)? It’s called the Herd affect .[sic].( google it ).
"Luckily I am thick-skinned and see beyond their words and their actions, however some others are not and this kind of behaviour can affect them mentally and can take lives and has taken lives. I also have a family, children and grandchildren - how do you think this kind of trolling makes them feel?
"My final message on this would be; Remember to be kind it really does not take much effort!"
Topics: Gary Lineker
Josh Lawless