Everton have banned The Sun newspaper from Goodison Park after a controversial article about midfielder Ross Barkley.
Kelvin MacKenzie was suspended from the paper after penning a column which labelled Barkley "one of our dimmest footballers", and added, "I get a similar feeling when seeing a gorilla at the zoo".
He also said: "The reality is that at £60,000 a week and being both thick and single, he is an attractive catch in the Liverpool area, where the only men with similar pay packets are drug dealers and therefore not at nightclubs as they are often guests of Her Majesty".
The footballer, who is of Nigerian descent, was assaulted in a bar in Liverpool city centre last week.
The mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson reported MacKenzie's article to police, claiming it contained "a racial slur".
Club Statement: pic.twitter.com/xDkptbbamk
— Everton (@Everton) April 15, 2017
MacKenzie later responded: "I had no idea of Ross Barkley's family background and nor did anybody else.
"For the mayor of Liverpool and a handful of others to describe the article as racist is beyond parody."
Everton have now followed near neighbours Liverpool's example by banning the publication, saying in a statement: "Yesterday Everton Football Club informed The Sun newspaper it was banned from Goodison Park, the USM Finch Farm training ground and all areas of the club's operation.
"Whilst we will not dignify any journalist with a response to appalling and indefensible allegations, the newspaper has to know that any attack on this city, either against a much respected community or individual, is not acceptable."
Liverpool banned The Sun from Anfield and their Melwood training ground in February over the publication's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 supporters were killed.
MacKenzie was the editor of the paper at that time, overseeing a front page headlined, 'The Truth', alleging fans pick-pocketed the dead, urinated on police and attacked officers trying to help those in distress.
Last year a jury at new inquests into the disaster ruled that those Liverpool fans who died in the tragedy were 'unlawfully killed' and that the action of the fans that day did not in any way contribute to their deaths.
Today marks the 28th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
