The World Cup is in full swing and naturally for an event of this magnitude, there are a whole host of broadcasters, experts, pundits in the United States. Former England & Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer is one of them.
Shearer is the co-host of the daily sports talk show on Netflix named ‘The Rest Is Football’ with Gary Lineker and Micah Richards being the others.
Never the one to shy away from expressing his opinions, Shearer’ s sharp wit and back-and-forth quips with his co-hosts are a signature of the show that makes it stand out among football talk shows.
However, it is this tendency of Shearer that has landed him in controversy recently.
In what appears to be the Netherlands vs Sweden game’s post match talk outside the Houston Stadium, Shearer was asked by Alex Aljoe, who is also known for co-hosting ‘The Rest Is Football: La Liga’ spin off, about the football star’s experience in Houston.
She asked, ‘Any more stories Alan? What have you seen?’ to which the legend replied, ‘I have just seen some weird looking guys in dresses and long hair that you had your picture with but apart from that, it was quite normal. I am starting to like Houston a little bit more now.’
As if Alan Shearer wasn’t a legend….
— Kellie-Jay Keen (@ThePosieParker) June 30, 2026
“Weird men in dresses” pic.twitter.com/LVEli2hPal
It is his use of the term ‘guys in dresses’ that has landed him in trouble, as it is used about transgender people as a derogatory characterization of trans women.
However, the clip was isolated without it’s full context which caused the misinterpretation, as many claimed it as a gender-critical statement. But if one listens carefully, Shearer clearly mentions that his comments are about the people who took photos with Aljoe.
The photo which Shearer talked about, later surfaced online where a group of Swedish fans, including brothers Anders and Christer Helgesson can be seen dressed in costumes resembling Swedish national dress the Sverigedräkten.
This quickly extinguished all the fire this controversy caught thanks to the isolated clip.
Though, truth be told, it was only limited to online as neither any notable media outlets reported it, nor Shearer thought it to be worthy enough to give an explanation.
