A Port Vale forward who appeared to have won the love of the internet after scoring in his side’s cup tie with Manchester City on the weekend undid much of that good work by appearing to share a Rothschild conspiracy theory online soon after.
The fun and games began in the summer when Tom Pope tweeted:
Just watched the highlights of the England game! I know I’m a league 2 player, I know he plays for England, I know he’s on £150k a week, I know he’s a million times better player than me but I’d love to play against John Stones every week! I’d get 40 a season! #soft #weakaspiss
Having scored against a City side containing Stones, Pope took to Twitter to revise his claim on the weekend:
Sorry I can’t reply to everyone it’s gone mental! I’d just like to say I was completely wrong and bang out of order to say I’d score 40 a season… it’s more like 50.
Capitalising on his newfound fame, Pope began taking questions from the public and replied to one tweet asking him to predict the result of World War III.
Pope quote tweeted the question and his reply was the dictionary definition of a Milkshake Duck:
We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then the Rothchilds (sic) are crowned champions of every bank on the planet.
According to the Press Association, the FA is looking into the matter despite Pope deleting the tweet without a word of apology.
Rothschild conspiracies have been perpetuated for centuries and are generally considered to be antisemitic.
The Rothschilds are a wealthy Jewish family that rose to prominence in the 1760s after Mayer Amschel Rothschild set up a banking business in Frankfurt, Germany.
The completely unfounded conspiracies perpetuate that the Rothschild family control the world's banking and financial systems and have influenced wars between various nations.
Generally speaking, the idea that the family controls Earth's financial institutions is deeply problematic and born from a position of prejudice.
Indy100 has contacted Port Vale and Tom Pope for comment.
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