Dawn Neesom lambasts Krish Kandiah’s ‘patronising’ remarks amid BBC xenophobia row: ‘Middle class sneering!’
GB News presenter Dawn Neesom has sharply criticised Dr Krish Kandiah’s comments about Tory MP Robert Jenrick, after he accused Jenrick of being “xenophobic.”
Discussing the latest BBC controversy on Britain’s Newsroom, Dawn declared the comments were “patronising” and “middle class sneering”.
The BBC was forced to apologise to Mr Jenrick after airing academic Dr Krish Kandiah’s accusation of “xenophobia” during Thought for the Day on Radio 4, featured in the Today programme.
**ARE YOU READING THIS ON OUR APP? DOWNLOAD NOW FOR THE BEST GB NEWS EXPERIENCE**
Responding to a recent article written by Mr Jenrick about his fears for his daughters’ safety amid the migration crisis, Mr Kandiah said it represented a “fear of the stranger”.
He said: “These words echo a fear many have absorbed. Fear of the stranger. The technical name for this is xenophobia. All phobias are, by definition, irrational.”
Delivering her verdict on the remarks, Dawn told GB News: “That is patronising. ‘You people out there absorb this’. No, maybe we’re just genuinely concerned?
“It’s just that middle class, left sneering, ‘oh, you poor things, you’re worried about this, but you’ve absorbed it. There’s nothing to be worried about, pat on the head’. Ugh!”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
‘Oh come on!’ Furious GB News row breaks out as Andrew Pierce hits back: ‘BBC is the biased one!’BBC apologises for branding Robert Jenrick ‘xenophobic’ in Radio 4’s Thought for the DayNewsnight sparks ‘DEFUND’ row as Derbyshire accused of ‘scraping barrel’ with migrant interview
Pointing out that the segment would have been “pre-approved” before broadcast, co-host Andrew Pierce then said: “And that segment, Thought for the Day, is usually it’s seen by senior people before broadcast. This was approved.
“It would never have gone out if he’d use the word racist rather than xenophobic.”
Dawn agreed, adding: “This wasn’t a thing that suddenly came out live, it was approved. So there are questions to be asked at the BBC. They have apologised and said that language shouldn’t have gone out, but it did.
“Because they’re posh, they think they can get away with using words like that. And none of us little poor people out here who are concerned about undocumented illegal migrants coming over here from cultures where they stone and rape women, that’s not a problem. Marrying nine year old girls? No, we don’t need to be concerned about that.”
Defending the BBC and Dr Kandiah, former Labour Special Adviser Paul Richards argued that it is Dr Kandiah’s “freedom speech” to make those remarks.
Mr Richards explained: “I think the BBC have called this completely wrong, actually, because I heard the piece go out live on Thought for the Day, where different people who don’t work for the BBC come on, put forward a point of view, often from a theocratic or religious or spiritual moralistic sort of point of view for a few minutes.
“For most people it’s their cue to go off and go to work or turn off the radio at that point. But anyway, I’ve heard it and I thought, well, he’s explained what xenophobia is in terms of how he’s using this word, it’s his point of view. Agree or disagree, but it’s his freedom of speech to say it.”
A BBC spokesman told GB News: “While its reflection on fear in society from a faith perspective is broadly in line with expectations of Thought for the Day, some of the language it used went beyond that and we apologise for its inclusion.”