Warren Gatland has moved to clarify his controversial stance on the incident in Saturday’s England vs Wales game, in which Joe Marler could clearly be heard calling Samson Lee a “gypsy boy”.
Gatland somewhat waved the incident off in a press conference earlier this week, claiming that it amounted to little more than ‘banter’ – a stance for which he has come in for a fair amount of stick.
The WRU today released the following statements from Gatland, as well as the governing body and Lee himself:
Warren Gatland statement:
“I don’t condone racism of any kind. I apologise for any offence my use of the word banter may have caused.
My intention was to take the focus away from Samson, a private individual, and enable him and the rest of squad to prepare for the final game of the championship. My comments were made following a discussion with Samson about the incident.
He believed Joe made his comment in the heat of the moment, he later regretted it and apologised, but Samson believes it wasn’t racist in intent and he accepted Joe’s apology.
While we await the findings of the Six Nations investigation into this incident it would be inappropriate for me, Samson or the team to comment further on this matter.”
WRU statement:
“The WRU does not condone racism of any kind. The incident is being investigated by Six Nations and we would welcome a definitive and speedy conclusion to their investigation.
The WRU recognises that Warren’s overriding intention was to protect Samson by playing down the incident and that his comments were made following a thorough consultation with Samson and with his support.”
Samson Lee statement:
“I would like to explain my point of view. I stand beside Warren. I personally believe the comments to have been intended as banter and accepted Joe’s apology on Saturday.
Warren is fiercely protective of the team and his comments were made based on conversations with me and with the intention of deflecting attention away from me.”
The incident is currently under investigation by the Six Nations disciplinary committee, although it is understood nothing will be released until the outcome of Marler’s other citing – for a forearm to Rob Evans’ head – has been reached.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
As you know by now, we are hilarious, and you should be following us on Facebook and Twitter. 
So, so sad that Gatland should need to explain himself and his initial reaction. This entire incident should be between the players, and the players alone – surely? the more we bow to the ‘offended’ brigade, the more stupid everything is going to keep getting!
Max, please can you ensure that you place a ‘trigger warning’ before posting opinions like that, I am distressed in your reference to the word ‘brigade’ which has suppressive military connotations.
As an ex-squaddie I’m cleared to use Military connotations, it’s ok ;-)
Santiago. The problem is that it is so easy with social media and ref mics etc for issues like this to go out of control. Rugby is a game for people on the edge and sometimes things will be said without malice, but just to wind others up.
The main issue is what I think Max was trying to get at, in that people are so easily offended now and yet the comments were not made to them. The two people that matter are Lee and Marler. They were both fine with it and so should everyone else be.
I does seem if there is room for people to take a fence they do. This matter should have been closed off on the same day. Same for ref mics, just turn them off.
I certainly think that taking a fence is a criminal offence. It also makes it easy for next door´s dog to crap on your lawn.
Badom tish! Nice one.
Disagree on ref mic – this is one of the great things about rugby, that 99% of the time we can hear players and officials conversing with respect.
Why is a brigade submissive connotation? Fire Brigade! Boys Brigade…. you seem to be who Max is aiming such remarks at…. Wooly PC’er
Doz Day, you too please. Fire Brigade has dominate male sexuality overtones and the less said about Boys Brigade (especially those formerly run by the Catholic Church) the better. But it seems OK to bash them so I will let you off that one however you may upset Brighty with remarks about wool.
Max, glad your OK and not crying into your keyboard. Can we go back to talking rubbish about rugby please?
I think we perhaps need a ‘sarcasm’ warning too… ;)
As Samuel Johnson said:- “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Tis far, far better to remain as silent as a marble bust than speak and cause the smallest trace of pain.” However, Michelangelo´s David objected to this on the grounds that he did not wish to be part of a silent minority, feeling that he had an ´armless talent for sarcasm.
and a like button :-)
Now the bloody sarcasm brigade are here, is noone safe?
it’s ok everyone – and thanks for stepping in Doz but ……. wait for it …….. I am proud to say ….. I’m in no way offended. Besides we full backs can sledge all day and nobody hears us
If this unfortunate comment had not been picked up by the ref’s mike would this issue be inviting all this discussion? JM has apologised and SL has accepted the apology. That really should be the end of it.
Spot on Disquiet; I heard someone call you a f****ng idiot the other day; very rude, but you didn’t hear it fortunately, so that’s just fine/
i’d like to say I’m offended, but I don’t know why.
I’d still be in favour of a 4 week ban (or whatever the sentence is) for Marler. “Banter” or not, it’s not acceptable to use a racial slur. I don’t think Marler should be banned for life or anything as it seems like he was being a pratt not a racist, but the message should be sent that racist language is unacceptable.
Just playing Devil’s advocate for a moment Bacon (as I am too wise to say something & refer to it as my personal opinion), when you say the ‘message should be sent’ … what is the message? And who is to be sent to? Is the message ‘don’t be a racist’? As I think, if you’ve been raised to be a racist (is there another way of becoming one?) then the rugby citing board may not be powerful enough to change that. If the message is ‘be careful if you’re racist, most other people don’t like it’ – then I think that could be a useful guide for general public decorum. But I do sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be a really good idea to just teach people to not be offended and not take things personally. Haters gotta hate and they have their own story and reasons for that … better to learn to let them get on with it.
This whole PC caper just makes decent people worry about how they’re being perceived – I’m not sure it’s ever cured someone of racism. Has it?
Apologies if I’m off on a tangent their Jamie…
Please explain what is racist about marlers comment??
Beats me Bryn. But then, I’m not sure I even get how it’s classed as ‘Banter’ either.
Is ‘Taffy’ still okay ….. ?
TAFFY??? How dare you; honestly, Taffy???? I mean, how dare you, I mean, it’s as if you’re actually saying I’m Welsh, I mean how DARE you? I mean, I’m so PROUD of being Welsh, so how DARE you accuse me of being a TAFFY. It’s just soooooo insulting. Can I lie down now please?
I’d say that “Gypsy Boy” is racist. On account of it being a negative comment about someone’s race. My point was only that I felt the RFU shpuld say that making a derrogatory comment about race isn’t acceptable. Ultimately, it’s a bit of a storm in a teacup and I think Marler’s apology covers it, I’d just like a public statement to the same effect at least. Rant over, I can go on with wondering how England will throw it away against France!
Could you argue the TV Programme ‘Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ is racist…….
Well i do find it highly offensive so maybe
“Gypsy Boy” is surely only racist if you regard gypsies as being inferior beings. The comment can then be construed as being negative. Is that what you are suggesting Bacon?
Nah, that’s racial discrimination … this was a racial ‘slur’.
You know, I cannot be bothered arguing this point any more. I make a point that making a negative comment about someone’s race (saying that someone is a Gypsy isn’t racist, calling them Gypsy boy is a negative comment about their race. Replace the word Gypsy with Jew for a similar analogy), and all that happens is a bunch of comments about how over sensitive I am. I’m never going to change your mind, you’re certainly not going to change mine, so why not leave it alone eh?
Marler has been suprisingly cleared of the elbow and comment – case as been closed. Although i feel this may open a can of worms for the 6 Nations – they need to know explain what is acceptable and not acceptable for players to say regarding race
I agree Amathus – we want a ‘wrong word’ list. For instance … would ‘Taffy boy’ have been ok? ‘Fat boy’? ‘Arse Clown’….? And maybe he could have come back with ‘Posh boy’? ‘Toff boy’? these refer to ‘class’ …. like ‘Chav boy’ …. ‘Peasant’ ….?
Honestly, the whole thing has just been blown out of proportion by a minority of rabid Wales fans who are still choking on their sour grapes. Both SL and WG have stated publicly they aren’t really bothered (although WG was forced into a retraction by the WRU PC police), EJ and the RFU gave JM a ticking off, and he’s apologised (both publicly and in person) for being a bit of a dick.
I think racism can be dependent on intent and offence. In this case, JM’s intent was to just to wind SL up in the heat of a massive rugby game (and not insult his heritage etc). SL as an experienced rugby player accepts this. No-one actually involved has taken any offence, so what gives third parties who weren’t even there the right to speak for SL, WG, the Wales team etc?
The comment that if this wasn’t picked up on the ref mike is correct, but I’d go one further and say that if Wales had won they wouldn’t have been anything like this fuss. One of the Welsh players got banned for gouging FFS, why aren’t we talking about that? Because it’s been dealt with. I know I’m leaving myself open to a savaging from the Taffs here (arrogant Englishman etc etc), but at least the majority on this blog seem to be able to view this rather silly incident in proportion.
Can we move onto the rugby this weekend now please?
Rabid Welsh Fans, now that really is not PC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
sonicgroom – the idea that everyone who has a problem with it has an issue with the racism just because their team lost is rubbish.
“majority on this blog seem to be able to view this rather silly incident in proportion.”
You see, that’s taking an opinion (silly incident) and turning it into a factual statement. In your opinion it was silly, in some people’s it wasn’t, but people seem to want to just shut down any debate about it that doesn’t agree with their conceptions – if you think it was bad then you’re PC, or you’re unable to view it in proportion, or you just have sour grapes because your side lost. This is a heck of a limited ability to understand the myriad of opinions out there without filtering them through our own conceptions first.
You think it was fine. That would be a sound argument to build a defence/rebuttal on e.g. in my opinion it is not racist, so Marler shouldn’t get banned, etc.
What I don’t understand is the need for most people who think it is ok to go further and then attack those who don’t think it is ok – this seems to go beyond the original point i.e. should/shouldn’t Marler be punished, was the thing ok to say, etc. instead it turns it into a “anyone who disagrees with my opinion on this is full of sour grapes, professionally offended, PC” etc. It’d be like me saying anyone who disagrees with my opinion on it is just a racist – I don’t think that, I think it’s a complex issue, but perhaps you can see that if I did that, by turning discussion into attack, it just creates more issues?
Hey Brighty, I think what a few of us are having trouble with is the idea that a 3rd party can feel justified in ‘taking offence’ to what happened – when the individual directly involved did not. He understood the context (test match front row banter) and the ‘heat of the moment’ etc – he also acknowledged the immediate apology and being a ‘private person’ his coach also tried to divert any further attention. But the press wouldn’t let it go and pretended they were acting, somehow in his interest. They are not. They only ever serve themselves.
Interesting points though – good debate.
Max – I don’t take offence. I get concerned about the normalisation of what I would consider to be racist language. It’s not a concern over the personal offence of Lee (I’m sure sticks and stones, etc.) or my personal offence. For example, the gypsy council statement expressed their opinion that this was a sad day for them – they are very proud of Lee and feel that the use of “gypsy” as a derogatory comment is sad for the children they want to encourage to feel part of the community, etc. That’s the sort of thing that bothers me.
We could take “don’t take offence, man up” to full extremes and then say nothing is offensive really unless the person decides to take it as such but we know there are some things that are just absolutes, offensive, regardless of personal opinion. The grey area is where the lines are.
For me don’t use anyone’s ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation as abuse against them. That’s for me. Marler contravened that – no matter how it was picked up, whether the recipient was offended or not, etc. I’m not a screaming PCer who is just using this to kick back against an England win. I wouldn’t want a massive ban for Marler but I am disappointed that nothing at all will be done, perhaps not even a more public “that was a stupid set of words to use” apology from Marler would have been good, to acknowledge the wider effects of his words beyond just Lee himself.
I know the press are cynical but in some small way at least they do recognise that there are people out there who have issues with it and that’s why it continues to be a story.
Equally Brighty, it can easily go too far the other way, There are people out there who will take offence at almost anything on someone else’s behalf – irrespective of context or offence taken by the person involved.
Many of these people are shrill and vocal both in the normal media and in social media. They shout so loud that they drown out any kind of common sense or rational debate.
Listening to people like this leads to idiocies like this – http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/10/lord-sugar-investigated-over-bizarre-chinese-child-hate-tweet/
And I am sure I can find numerous other examples of such over-exaggerated responses to someone ‘taking offence’ at a situation that has nothing to do with them
As I argued about Jamie’s use of the word ‘vile’, over-exaggeration de-sensitises us so that when something truly nasty occurs, its impact is that much lessened.
We should use our common sense in this situation. Something stupid, inappropriate and intended to wind its subject up was said in the heat of a hugely physical rugby match. An apology was issued as quickly as possible (without any pressure from the media or sporting bodies it should be noted).
The apology was accepted. Everyone has condemned the language used. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that what was said was wrong. Draw a line under it and move on
Drawing a line under it and moving on is all well and good, but that line should have been some sort of ban at the very least. It’s not really about anyone taking offence or not in this specific situation, it’s about the example being set in a very public way. Surely the message has to be that racial abuse in sport is not ok.
And of course there is the question of any sort of consistency, which I appreciate is universally lacking in the disciplinary process anyway. As example from 2008: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7377031.stm
But is calling a Samoan a “coon” really comparable to calling someone of Romany/Traveller heritage a “gypsy”?
I know I’m going to get beaten with the “racism is racism end of” stick here, but surely there are shades of grey. Are we banning Taff? Jock? Is it racist to repeatedly refer to the English as arrogant? Under the letter of law all these things are racist. But the law has to be applied with some degree of common sense, particularly when apologies etc. have already been exchanged.
Understood Pablito but for me some idiots taking it too far one way or the other is no reason to let it all slide – that was my point. Idiots referring to any dissent as “PC correctness” or “liberal handwringing” is just as daft.
I think a wider apology/acknowledgment from Marler was needed so I’ll remain unconvinced that enough has been done but I am happy to move on providing I don’t get labelled a handwring professionally offended PC whatever again cos then I’ll feel the need to refute that.
Whilst I think Marler should be banned, he has said something:
“I will certainly conduct myself differently in the future. I do not condone racism of any form, at any time, deeply regret the incident. I again apologies for the upset my inappropriate remark has caused.”
He clearly regrets it, and apologised to Lee unprompted at half time. BUT, you can’t get away from the fact that is was a racial slur and therefore he must be banned.
Just think it’s so sad. Lancaster slaved to change the ‘culture’ in English rugby, and appeared to have had modest success. And here we are are, jus a couple of months of the ‘Wizard of Oz'; back to thuggery and abuse in no time at all. What is it with these boys? Perhaps their parenting, or a problem in English (private) education? Don’t know but it’ a real concern.
I hated Lancaster’s holier-than-thou schoolmaster BS and was delighted to see the end of it.
You say England are “back to thuggery and abuse” – please provide examples of England’s previous thuggery and/or abuse.
Hi Stroudos – I can give you a two-word response; Dylan Hartley.
Dylan Hartley’s England record – 3 yellow cards (none by the way in the 6 Nations) from 70 caps. Not one red
Hardly thuggery and abuse
Can you PLEASE stop hurling fact-spanners in to this beautiful story!
Can I just say had The BBC not broadcast this as it was picked up on the ref’s mic it may have gone unnoticed, Marler apologised and we should move on from this.
I suppose it hinges on the severity of the word said and the offence caused to the individual, obviously some words are hugely offensive and shouldn’t be used but some can be taken either way I hate being called a Pom and get quite offended by this, others don’t, in some respects this is a massively grey area.
I don’t think it is the most offensive ‘name calling’ I have heard but feel that action should’ve been taken as it would stop others pushing the envelope.
MartinJ … Do any of us seriously think that an International prop gets hold of another prop’s shirt and then … for a moment … runs through a list of insults in his mond that he thinks might be enough to upset his enemy, whilst stopping just short of a ban? Pushing the envelope? Really?
I know I’m an ex-squaddie an’ all, but hand on heart – I cannot remember the last time someone said something to me (on or off the pitch) that ‘offended’ me. Seriously – where does this all come from? Being offended is like being intimidated – it’s a choice you make yourself. And I seriously doubt Samson was offended.
All of this caper has been stirred by the media. A media that now needs to run 24/7 and fill a week of void between games with guff. I was reminiscing yesterday about how we all used to assemble in the squadron bar for a bit of 5 nations ‘banter’ (of course, all joining together to bash the French) and we used to love the ‘build up’ on BBC. And the reason we loved it was that we hadn’t heard a single word (no papers, no social media, no news) ALL WEEK. Imagine that?? We really cherished that weekly dose of 5 Nations rugby. Back then the Welsh used to moan that the BBC ALWAYS showed the England game ………
Happy daze.
Quite agree Max. I think Stephen Fry put it very succinctly in this interview a few years ago:
https://youtu.be/O-IX69mjpcA?t=1m10s
Transcript for those who can’t be bothered with the link:
“It’s now very common to hear people say “I’m rather offended by that”, as if that gives them certain rights. It’s actually nothing more than a whine. “I find that offensive” – it has no meaning, it has no purpose, it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. I am offended by that – well so f***ing what!”
Max – No I don’t you’ve taken it out of context and you have picked parts of what I have said to support a non-existent argument but would you happily see a player of Afro-Caribbean origin called the N word or of Indian/Pakistani the P word and write it off as banter, if it is stopped at something that is of questionable offence it deters further more offensive words which could be deemed as abuse.
As an ‘Ex-Squaddie’ I do not know where you served but was is acceptable in the armed forces to refer to Middle Easterners as ‘Rag Heads’? The bottom line is respect and I did refer to it as a massively grey area.
Hey Martin, I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to ignore the ‘rag head’ remark because unless you’ve served then it seems that it’s incomprehensible to most people as to what we deem as acceptable ‘in our world’. I’ve learned that since coming out, so best not to go there.
Hand on heart – until this happened, I had no idea it was offensive to refer to a Gypsy as a Gypsy. So, there you go. Would I be shocked if I saw a poster advertising “My big fat N****R wedding” Yes, Yes I would. So I guess I am out of touch. Happens at my age.
I think it would be useful for the Home office to issue an ‘unsafe terminology’ list, like they do with holiday locations. That way we can be kept up to speed.
It will be interesting to see what comes off the back of this as I am sure the Telegraph et al will now be hiding microphones all over the place to catch juicy headlines. Kissball refs might be a good place to start ……..
It would be a lot easier to get rid of the microphones and let people sort it out between themselves if someone feels truly offended. There is an ex Sussex police hooker out there with a somewhat reorganised nose who probably still regrets calling me a fat, slow ginger bastard, but he was man enough to acknowledge that he deserved it. The PC industry has become all-encompassing, creating jobs for thousands of people whose sole function is to manufacture outrage at trivial offences that the participants often couldn´t care less about. They do far more harm than good. The media absolutely loves it and will create and fuel imaginary feuds based on virtually nothing just to sell papers. If Marler deserved suspending for anything it was a deliberate elbow in the face, not the sort of passing remark that he clearly made in the heat of the moment and apologised for almost immediately.
Agree Andy – a self-fulfilling bunch of do gooders that frankly, I’m tired of. Now we all start our sentences with “No offence, but …” just in case! I’ve never taken part in sledging or banter as it does nothing for me. As a Full back I always preferred to just wait until they came through for a one-on-one. Job done. Sticks n stones n all that. At the end of the day … only I can choose to be ‘offended’ by what someone says … nobody else can do it for me.
Meanwhile. The elbow (or “punch in the face” as it’s being referred to over the border). I haven’t seen a video yet that shows the actual ‘contact’ … is there one? My thinking is that, as there was no way of giving the try in the same clip due to the ball being ‘unsighted’, maybe they used the same rationale for the elbow?
I’ve seen yellow’s given for less though and to be fair, I’m close now to being ‘unsurprised’ by any decision, it’s all become a bit farcical.
I didn’t think there was much to the elbow either Max. More a gentle reminder of who was on top at the time. Aggressive, but just the sort of edge that Jones seems to be looking for (and getting) from his forwards. It was that in your face aggression that kept England on top for most of the game, and I do hope that we start getting more comments about the “arrogant English” (which is of course not racist because it is about people that everyone loves to hate). It will be a sure sign that we are starting to win again and not apologising for it! With regard to the N word, judging by some of the rap that is about I think you can only use it about a black person if you are one yourself. “Whitey” of course will never be racist to the Guardianistas. Enough said. Please can this thread be allowed to die soon so that we can savour the prospect of England winning the GS on Saturday, preferably with Marler scoring the winning try.
Now don’t start getting hyper-sensitive about ‘arrogant English’, purlease! It’s just those ‘arrogant’ English we don’t like, as opposed to the vast majority of lovely cuddly, really NICE English – they’re the ones we love so much.
Here is the footage of what has also been described as a “forearm SMASH” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVQcw6nUn8
For me, it’s an unnecessary cheap shot and I don’t really like to see it, but as Andy points out, it’s the sort of sly dig that front rowers put in throughout every game.
I believe the sanction for this was what is sometimes known as an “off-field yellow”. Same as Haskell for the neck roll. I would say both those sanctions were about right.
ha ha – yes Andy, totally agree. There was that horrible fleeting moment as Wales scored that third try that I thought the entire England team were going to stand like rabbits caught in the headlights, looking around for a leader – like they did at least once a game under SL. Dear God ….. I do now wonder just how catastrophic his tenure actually was. Did that RWC really happen? You’re right, we’re back on track and playing ‘professional rugby’ again – which means ‘trying to win’ and not ending every horrific defeat with a speech about ‘learning lessons’ and being on ‘a journey’ – fecking tripe.
ONWARD!!
That’s right Max.
Air brush RWC 2015 from the collective memory just like 2011 and forget it ever happened.
Sometimes it´s the only way to cope with the pain and disappointment! Looking forward at least allows one to hope!
Prophet Eunoch (I presume), 2015 was sooooo last year!
Had we won we probably would still have fallen at the QF stage …. but have 4 more years of Lancaster. A spectacular failure (like 2007) has done us more favours in the long run than just being generally underwhelming.
We now have a coach, not a head teacher, we have a captain, not a head boy, “play for each other” is back fake crap like “play for the shirt” is out.
It was a disaster, should never have happened, but the eggs had to be broken to even begin to make an omelette. Long way to go, but I’m at least optimistic about our future again.
Amen Matt. And Sam Burgess ……. did that happen? Or did I just take some bad drugs one weekend …?
“Air brush RWC 2015 from the collective memory” – oh, – thanks – was that you granting permission?
I was in the Sun Inn the night we lost to Wales in the RWC and I was so pleased for Wales that frankly, it wasn’t until a few days later that I got annoyed at the opportunity we had wasted by not turning up. However, at least it was so bad that we HAD to get rid of SL & his merry men. But the Welsh fans, although grateful for my kind words and orders of beer … seemed a bit, well … bemused really. I do sometimes think that a lot of our opposition in the 6N get truly angry at how quickly we get over a defeat and move on. They want us to hurt as much as it hurts them to lose to us … but you see, that will never happen. You cannot make someone else feel bad … that’s their choice and on that night, I thought 1) we were crap and 2) Biggar et al were heroic. It was great to watch and I genuinely enjoyed it.
Until you can get to that place, when you can truly enjoy watching any team win when they deserve it … you’re gonna be bitter. Haters gotta hate n all that.
“Sometimes it´s the only way to cope with the pain and disappointment! Looking forward at least allows one to hope!”
And hope springs eternal Andy … particularly in Paris. May the best team win …
My friend tells me he heard someone, over the ref’s mic, say the phrase ‘twll Saes’, which I gather is an insult in Welsh directed at English players. (It apparently means ‘Eng**sh ar**h*le). Yet no action – one of those Welsh players (am I wrong to suspect them not the England boys?) should already be behind bars. I mean come on.
Interesting to know how Sir Nigel Owens feels about “Gypsy boy” comment. He will of course be officiating on Saturday. Good luck with that you “arrogant poms”
I don’t get this. Is Nige a gypsy?
Anyway, he’s too good a ref to allow anything other than the game he’s reffing at that moment in time influence his decision-making.
Your possibly quite right. However he is Welsh & this is England going for their first Grand Slam in donkeys years (well 13 years is a long time given Englands wealth and playing resource) his concentration may lapse at an appropriate moment. Have a great game Nigel
You really have a low opinion of referees don’t you.
First you slate Joubert and now you are questioning King Nigel’s impartiality
Looking forward to watching the game in Stade
I presume that having shoved their way into the Marler debate, contrary to the position of both their coach and player, the WRU will also be calling for a ban for Rob Evans for his comments in this article
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-prop-rob-evans-jokes-11005553
“…ll the boys were talking about Samson Lee, this gypsy….The only thing I remember really from the game was the smell. He smells a bit better now!”
My final point on the issue, Samson Lee is a from a traveller family and the term gypsy is derogative in certain quarters and is not acceptable, regardless of personal views. The term gypsy is acceptable terminology within their own ranks, outside it is classed as insulting. The same as a slang for a black person is acceptable within their community. The excuse that it was in the heat of the moment is ridiculous as you can use that excuse for eye gouging, throwing a punch or anything else