Wayne Hennessey is a footballer. He was born in Bangor, Wales, and is 32 years old. He plays in goal, and has had a reasonably successful career, including 82 caps for his country. In January 2019, the above photo was posted on Instagram by one of his team-mates, Max Meyer. Max was born in Germany. To some people, Hennessey's pose in the photo might look like he was making a Nazi salute. A complaint was made and was followed by an investigation.
Hennessey denied making a Nazi salute. According to the BBC, he said he "waved and shouted at the person taking the picture to get on with it" and "put my hand over my mouth to make the sound carry". Hennessey also submitted photos to the investigation that showed him making similar gestures during matches to attract the attention of his team-mates.
The charge was found "not proven."
Ok, whatever. Maybe they did not feel that they had enough evidence for a reprimand or punishment. The thing that I find so unpalatable is that Hennessey claimed that he had no idea what a Nazi salute was. WTF?! The panel stated, " ...when cross-examined about this Mr Hennessey displayed a very considerable - one might even say lamentable - degree of ignorance about anything to do with Hitler, Fascism and the Nazi regime."
Am I being ridiculous when I question how that could possibly be at all possible? As the Guardian wrote:
"In a development that gives hope to everyone who wishes to exist for more than three decades in a state of child-like innocence, it emerged that Mr Hennessey succeeded in becoming a fully-formed adult without becoming acquainted with the most basic details of the life and times of some moustachioed character called Adolf Hitler and his band, the Nazis. "Don't mention the war" is an instruction that appears to have been followed to a tee by everyone Mr Hennessey has ever met in his whole life."
Hopefully, at the very least, the court of public opinion will persuade Mr Hennessey to fill in this particular gap in his knowledge. Meanwhile, how many more people like him might there be out there?
BBC report
The Guardian's Fiver comment
David Squires cartoon
