Muslim organisation MEND has asked people to write to The Sun newspaper to urge it to sack media personality Katie Hopkins after she tweeted what many consider to be racist and Islamophobic statements.
MEND – which encourages British Muslims to engage in politics and media – said Hopkins’ latest outburst has hit a new low and offended thousands of British Muslims.
In two recent tweets to her nearly 200,000 followers Hopkins insulted the Prophet Muhammad (saw), said she suspected Muslims think it is ok to “rape young white girls,” and said the Rotherham child abuse scandal was about race and “Pakistani rape of white girls.”
Hopkins is one of The Sun’s weekly columnists and former reality TV contestant on The Apprentice and I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here. She regularly appears on mainstream TV channels to espouse her views. She has also criticised Ramadan and advocates the banning of the burqa.
In a statement MEND said Hopkins “made vile and false accusations in a tweet against the Prophet Muhammad (saw)… This ’new low’ for Katie comes just weeks after she tweeted messages about cupcakes and guns during Ramadan disparaging Muslims who were fasting through the month and ridiculing Islam.
MEND says Muslims should write to The Sun’s editor – [email protected] –and tell him that:
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- Many Muslims read the newspaper and are deeply horrified and insulted by her comments.
- The newspaper would do well to dispense with the services of this racist bigot.
- The newspaper would not allow people who tweeted bigoted remarks about blacks, Jews or any minority group in Britain, it must not allow someone who takes pleasure in tweeting anti-Muslim comments.
- The newspaper should follow the example of TV channels which have already acted to take her vile comments off our TV screens. The newspaper must follow suit and get rid of her.
Meanwhile, the CEO of MEND, Sufyan Ismail, has received a response from The Sun’s editor David Dinsmore.
In it he said: “I should first point out that the Sun is not responsible for the Twitter postings of our contributors, nor does it agree with everything they say. Katie’s opinions on Twitter, some of which can be questionable on a number of subjects, are her own.
“We take great care in what we publish on our platforms. Katie’s column tomorrow does not include any reference to the Prophet Mohammed, nor any suggestion that Islam condones rape. Her central piece revolves around whether Shaun Wright should resign from his post of police commissioner. She does express a view that some of those responsible for these terrible acts may have had a perverse and twisted view of the Islamic religion. This has been voiced elsewhere. I hope this reassures you somewhat.”
