Adil Ray, 47, had caused division on social media earlier today after commenting on Emma Raducanu’s, 18, Romanian heritage ahead of her appearance in the US Open Women’s Final this evening. The Good Morning Britain star tweeted that if you’re in the tennis final you are considered “British” however if you have a service job people consider you to be “Romanian”.
Adil tweeted: “If you play in a tennis final you’re British, if you’re a builder/delivery man/waitress etc you’re Romanian.”
People were unimpressed with his tweet and accused him of trying to start a “row”.
“As usual Mr Ray yet again trying to make a row where one doesn’t exist!” One Twitter user commented.
Another added: “Adil I’m supportive of a lot of what you do, but that’s a really poorly thought out nonsense tweet purely designed to invite a negative reaction. Why?”
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“That’s a sweeping generalisation, we don’t all think like that- surely fighting prejudice is about not making generalisations?” one confused user asked.
However, Adil has now addressed his comments and explained his observation does not apply to everyone.
Adil responded: “Who was I generalising about?”
The user continued: “Suggesting that’s how people think- it doesn’t apply to everyone. I don’t, some do.”
Adil answered: “I didn’t say it did. Well done for not being those that do.”
Emma is due to play Leylah Annie Fernandez at the US Open final tonight at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in NYC.
“Not only are Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez both teenage grand slam finalists, but they’re also both multilingual,” read a post that Adil retweeted.
He added: “So are many children of immigrants: multiskilled, unique perspectives, incredibly driven, punching up but many of us never say the same about them.
“They’re not integrating, surveyed about their Britishness, talk a bit funny and should feel lucky despite their poverty.”
