Jeremy Vine deletes tweet defending guest who said ‘minorities have to be squashed’

He defended his guest

Jeremy Vine has now deleted the tweet he posted after a guest on his Channel 5 show, Mike Parry, suggested this morning that "minorities have to be squashed". The clip caused uproar on social media and numerous calls made for Ofcom to investigate. Responding to the outrage, Vine initially tweeted out to try and clarify the statement, suggesting that it had been taken out of context. You can see the clip in which Parry physically slams his hands down on the table below. https://twitter.com/RossMcCaff/status/1443887214535053315?s=20 During a discussion around eco-protestors Insulate Britain on the M25, journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown suggested that right-wing outlets are not covering the subject in a similar way to farming protests. But Parry disagreed, insisting those protests were "not to the detriment of millions of others." He then continued to say that: "The problem in this country in all areas is that minorities always get the upper hand because we're so tolerant, and minorities have to be squashed, like that… so that the rest of society can operate normally." Upon using the word squashed, Parry violently slammed his fist onto the desk in front of him. Prior to being taken down, Vine's statement reacting to the outrage read as follows:

"This would have been totally unacceptable had Mike been referring to members of ethnic minorities. In fact this snippet does not make clear @mikeparry8 was actually talking about the eco-protesters who brought the M25 to a halt. He said they represented very few people in the UK."

Like Parry, Vine is now facing widespread criticism online: https://twitter.com/AlanKelloggs/status/1443912833905926167?s=20 "Mike Parry needs to be reprimanded and removed for his outright bigotry and threats towards minorities. His actions contribute to the violence POC, women, LGBTQ+ and disabled people face today, @Ofcom what will you do?" read one comment on Twitter. Ofcom has yet to respond to the situation.