Katie Hopkins is facing growing calls from the public to apologise over a dehumanising comment piece that compared migrants to cockroaches after The Independent launched a campaign urging the Government to take in desperate refugees fleeing conflict.
The controversial columnist reacted to the death of hundreds of refugees who died when their boat capsized by advocating using gunships to stop people attempting to reach Europe’s shores.
"No, I don't care,” she wrote. "Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don't care.”
The refugee crisis - in pictures
Twitter users are now bombarding her with tweets reminding her of that sentence after the #refugeeswelcome campaign was launched alongside a devastating picture of a Syrian child lying dead on the shore of a Turkish beach printed on The Independent’s front page.
@KTHopkins Ms Hopkins, I hope for your own humanity that it turned out you DO care when you see dead refugee children washed up on beaches.
; Chris T-T (@christt) September 3, 2015
surely time for Katie Hopkins to step in and "say it as it is" about the poor, dead boy on the beach?
; Dom Joly (@domjoly) September 3, 2015
FLASHBACK: @KTHopkins pic.twitter.com/Nhcasjqtly
; Media Guido (@MediaGuido) September 3, 2015
A baby boy being dragged out of the sea. Someone's baby. RIP sweetheart. Katie Hopkins and her muttley crew are a disgrace. Move u yet?
— Stacey Dooley (@StaceyDooley) September 2, 2015
.@kthopkins Is this still your opinion, Katie? (it is worth offering people the chance to change, eh?) pic.twitter.com/zy8Q6AL2su
; dan barker (@danbarker) September 3, 2015
@KTHopkins you wrote: "Show me bodies floating in water." Today would be a good day to say sorry. #refugeeswelcome pic.twitter.com/9fq0RlZ60G
; Rhubarb Grumble (@RhubarbGrumble) September 3, 2015
This piece I quoted here is still up, by the way, unexplained, unapologised for. "Why was it published?": http://t.co/yGw18Z8AHC @KTHopkins
; Richard (@_L_M_C_) September 2, 2015
A spokesperson for The Sun told The Independent it has no plans to remove her column. But Hopkins has stayed uncharacteristically quiet in the face of hundreds of requests to apologise for her article, which was blasted as "offensive, xenophobic and racist" by the Society of Black Lawyers.
It comes heavily in contrast to The Sun's front page on Thursday urging the Government to deal with the “heartbreaking life and death” situation, which it describes as the biggest crisis to hit Europe since WWII.
Their editorial urges David Cameron to help those embroiled in a life and death struggle “not of their making”.
Aylan Kurdi (left) and his older brother, Ghalib, died when their dinghy sank off the coast of Turkey
It continues: “Britain has rightly held back the thousands massed at Calais — many of them merely economic migrants — and is making our welfare system less attractive to those tempted to join them.
“But there are others who, with their kids, have fled imminent danger in Syria either from its genocidal dictator Assad or the bloodthirsty savages of Isis.
“Our nation also has a proud record of taking in desperate people and we should not flinch from it now if it is beyond doubt that they have fled for their lives.”
Hopkins' column led to the UN releasing a statement condemning The Sun for publishing language it said resembled pro-genocide propaganda, and Hopkins was questioned by police over allegations of inciting racial hatred in connection with the piece.
The Independent has contacted Hopkins for comment.
