Hodgson is guilty of being a poor comedian... but don't label him a racist.

Here is a list of things that Roy Hodgson does in his free time: listens to soul music, reads Czech, German and Jewish literature, swots up on the biography of recent Nobel Prize winners, brushes up on his Norwegian, Swedish, German and Italian grammar (he can only manage conversational Danish, French and Finnish, the idiot).
The point is Hodgson is quite possibly the most culturally literate man ever to grace the Wembley dugout. He has the c.v. of a politician, not a football coach.
If it all goes belly up in Rio next summer, Hodgson could probably get a job as a translator at the United Nations. He is a rare breed in football and a wonderful example to his players that there is life beyond the ball.

But the one thing he is perhaps not is a comedian. He re-told an old NASA joke about monkeys in space in order to convey a tactical point to his right back. It was a bizarre way to tell Chris Smalling - who was not having a brilliant game to this less-qualified observer - to increase his supply to England's hyper-charged threat on the right wing, Andros Townsend.
From a coaching perspective it seems odd - a parable with a punchline is hardly the best way to get your message across to an England footballer at half-time. From a cultural perspective it is clumsy - the word 'monkey' is loaded with historical baggage and a million unwanted, offensive (and unintended) connotations.

Top performer: Andros Townsend walks past Hodgson after being substituted

But he clearly thought of the space story as a nice way to make his point, rather than the most pathetic and base dig. If Hodgson was racist, would he choose to make it known with a cheap shot in the public medium of the dressing room, with his career on the line and the most important 20-odd people to England's World Cup aspirations in ear shot? That argument cannot make any sense.
This is a poisonous thing to leak from the dressing room because the accusation is so heavily loaded. It smacks of a cynical exercise from one unhappy and excluded player, who must know precisely how damaging the 'r' word would be were it to follow the career of an England manager like a stubborn shadow.

Intelligent man: Hodgson speaks a number of languages and is interested in plenty of things outside the game

Football is hyper-sensitive to racism because it exists in a world of tribalism and hysteria, where rivals love to accuse each other as quickly and as loudly as possible.
As Jack Wilshere found out when he accidentally launched the 'English for England' debate, it is very difficult to deal with the nuance and complexity of national identity and race in a 15-minute press conference when you're late for a team meeting and you're still wearing your training socks.

Brazil bound: Hodgson has guided England to the World Cup finals

Context is everything here. It is what distinguishes art from pornography as much as it distinguishes racism from politics. Hodgson re-told an anecdote from history to his most-trusted men in the private environment of the dressing room.
Hodgson was not calling anybody in that dressing room a monkey. He was just trying to get his right winger the ball. By all means let's suggest he stops telling jokes at half-time, but let's not allow collective stupidity to crucify one intelligent man.