Sky Sports were once again forced to dub over darts fans who were loudly singing offensive chants about Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix on Saturday night.
It has been a tournament of thrilling darts, perhaps most notably Littler’s dramatic quarter-final win over Gerwyn Price. Fans will be hoping the two Lukes can put on one of their better matches in terms of entertainment.
But the fans in attendance have been making their own entertainment – as well as taking in what’s on stage – in terms of chanting.
Chants are common at the dtarts, with ‘stand up if you love the darts’ and the famous Kolo and Yaya Toure songs often heard. This week, though, including on Saturday night, they have taken it up a step.
During Humphries’ semi-final win over Danny Noppert, a large group of spectators could be heard chanting ‘Keir Starmer’s a w****r’ to the tune of Seven Nation Army.
At the end of the second set, Humphries took out 72 to win the fifth leg and take a 2-0 lead in terms of sets. He won the leg with a bullseye – but to apparent silence.
That was because Sky had seemingly pumped in fake crowd noise to cover the expletives.
At it wasn’t the first time it has happened this tournament. Fans at the Leicester Arena have before chanted about the Labour leader.
During Stephen Bunting’s clash with Noppert, a large group of spectators could be heard chanting the same song. The broadcaster reacted swiftly to censor the chant by playing generic crowd noise.
The general public’s view of Starmer has worsened significantly since he began his tenure as Prime Minister in July last year — and his lack of popularity was clearly on display at the darts.
Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ satisfaction ratings have reached historic lows in the latest IPSOS survey, with Reform UK leading Labour by 12 points in the polls.
The incident at the darts quickly went viral online as several fans took to social media to express their discontent and displeasure towards Starmer.
Tommy Robinson, one of the UK’s most prominent far-right activists who organised last month’s Unite the Kingdom Rally attended by a reported 150,000 protestors in London, shared a video of the incident on his X account.
The march was the UK’s biggest ever far-right protest and was staged days after American conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated aged 31 while debating students at a university in Utah.
