Stanley Johnson has provoked anger during Channel 4’s Alternative Election night show by sharing a controversial view on burkas.
The 79-year-old father of Prime Minister Boris Johnson , who is set to have a huge majority after the general election , made the distasteful comment to a panel that included The Mash Report’s Nish Kumar and comedian Katherine Ryan.
Their was astonishment in the room when Stanley opened up the burka ‘issue’ which Boris had previously caused derision after suggesting Muslim women wearing burkas “look like letter boxes” and comparing them to “bank robbers”.
This time, Stanley angered many by spontaneously saying: “If I was a female fighter jet pilot, I would expect someone to say don’t wear a burka.”
There was uproar in the studio and online as the comment was digested and disbelief that he even said it in the first place.
Stanley then followed up his comment saying: “My grandfather could recite the Quran.”
There was a huge response on Twitter , with one enraged viewer tweeting: “So if you ever wanted proof that hate , racism, misogyny and bigotry are learnt, tune into channel 4 and watch Boris Johnson’s father in action #alternativeelectionnight”
Another wrote: “Having Muslim heritage doesn’t absolve your Islamophobia. Appalling.”
A third was equally disgusted: “Quite clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Brought up to be a racist, and that’s who people have voted for #alternativeelectionnight”
Another compared Stanley to a drunk elderly relative, tweeting: “It’s like watching your drunk elderly family member at Christmas you can’t believe they’re saying these things and there’s no stopping them #alternativeelectionnight”
Judge Rinder and Nish Kumar, who were both on the panel at the time of the comment, tore into Stanley but it would seem that he was standing by what he said and couldn’t see why he had caused such outrage.
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