Rylan Clark has responded to the criticism he’s faced since his comments about immigration on Wednesday’s edition of This Morning.
The former X Factor star wrongly claimed that asylum seekers entering the UK are each given free phones and iPads and put up on “four star” hotels.
Advertisement
He has been guest hosting This Morning all week alongside Josie Gibson, and during the most recent broadcast, chaired a discussion about the day’s headlines with former Apprentice winner Tim Armstrong and GB News presenter Camilla Tominey.
When the conversation turned to immigration, and Nigel Farage’s polarising “mass deportation” plan, Rylan wound up facing a widespread controversy with his comments on the matter.
He began: “This country is built on immigration – legal immigration. You know, a lot of the nurses and the doctors that have saved my mum’s life have come over here from other countries, are living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system and they’re helping this country thrive.”
Advertisement
Rylan continued: “I find it absolutely insane that all these people are risking their lives coming across the Channel like they are, and when they get here, it does seem – and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are now sitting there going, ‘there’s something wrong here’ – it seems, ‘welcome, come on in’.
“This is the narrative we’re being fed. ‘Here’s the hotel, here’s the phone, here’s the iPad, here’s the NHS in reception of your hotel, here’s three meals a day, here’s a games room in the hotel, have a lovely time, welcome’. And then there’s people that have lived here all their lives, that are struggling. Our homeless, let’s not even discuss our homeless, there are people living on the streets, veterans, all of this.
“Now, this isn’t me getting on my soapbox because, let me be honest, everyone’s going to have an opinion about this and you’re going to upset someone some which way, but I believe that something major needs to be done about this.
Advertisement
“The money that it’s costing us, the amount of people that are in this country that we have no idea who they are, what they’ve done, what they’re capable of, and clearly, we see a lot of it in the press at the moment, some of what some are doing – not all – to people in this country… how can, if I turn up at Heathrow airport, if I turn up as a British citizen and I’ve left my passport in Spain, I’ve got to stand at that airport and won’t be let in… but if I arrive on a boat [from] Calais, I get taken to a four-star hotel?”
As Rylan’s comments became more widespread, he faced further backlash from critics on social media accusing him of parroting rhetoric popularised by Farage and his political party Reform, sharing mistruths about those seeking asylum in the UK and not being fully educated on the sensitive subject he was discussing.
Advertisement
Among those supporting him on social media was far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Posting on X later that day, Rylan wrote: “You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women. You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. The list continues.
“Stop with this putting everyone in a box exercise and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter.”
