Ranvir Singh has revealed she has been urged to quit Good Morning Britain after suggesting people at the weekend’s Tommy Robinson march were far-right racists.
The ITV presenter, 48, made the confession on the breakfast show on Tuesday and explained that many viewers had called on her to leave after she aired her views on Saturday’s rallies in central London.
On Sunday, Ranvir told hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley that she had come across someone attending the march as she queued for coffee at her local train station.
She confessed she was surprised that this seemingly ‘lovely’ man could be far right or racist.
The star added that the man made her uncomfortable, adding: ‘In my opinion, you’re going to support someone like Tommy Robinson. That makes me deeply uncomfortable’.
But her comments resulted in some backlash against her.
The Lorraine host told Susanna and Richard that she had received a lot of hate messages after speaking out against the marches.
Ranvir recounted meeting one of the protesters at a train station and they had discussed Brexit, Tommy Robinson’s march and immigration.
Ranvir Singh has revealed she has been urged to resign from Good Morning Britain following a speech about Tommy Robinson and added she has been bombarded with hate messages
Ranvir told Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley (pictured) that she had been inundated with messages – half of them supportive, and half of them angrily reacting to her comments
She said: ‘Actually, it was interesting, at my local station, I was just queuing up to get a coffee, and the man in front of me was getting coffee from the guy who I think is Sri Lankan at the station.
‘We all know him, he’s been there for years. And lovely, a really jolly chap, white guy, said, he said, “oh, I’m going into London, I’m going to join the Tommy Robinson march”‘.
Ranvir then explained that the trio began to chat before the white man revealed he was ‘curious to know how fascist these people really are’ at the rally, adding that his brother was far right and he was intrigued by the march.
She also said that the march made her ‘deeply uncomfortable’ but she didn’t ‘want to believe that 150,000 people are out and out racists.’
She added that that had never been her experience in the UK and it just ‘didn’t seem right’ to her.
The Lorraine star said she was so worried by the march she changed plans to go into London with her son.
She told the GMB: ‘It actually made me sad, because I think I should be allowed to go into London and feel safe.
‘I live here, it’s my place. But I didn’t, I didn’t take my son in – that made me sad. You know, the fact that you think, “oh, it’s not safe for my little brown boy to be in London” – it’s a sad thing.’
The ITV presenter made her comments after Saturday saw the largest right-wing demonstration in British history (pictured)
Speaking on the breakfast show today, Susana asked Ranvir about the feedback she had received following her comments on the those marching in London.
Ranvir revealed they had been unpleasant and that about half of them had been hate-filled.
The TV show host said: ‘A lot of reaction, 50/50 I’d say.’
’50 per cent lots of hate directed at me, wanting me to resign and things like that. It’s what happens when you speak out on anything like that.
‘But half of people saying thank you for saying what you said because it resonated. And I just want to mention somebody called Wendy who’s DM’d me and is reflective of the vast majority in the middle, and I massively appreciate her getting in touch.’
Wendy said to Ranvir in her message: ‘Saw you on the TV, you were talking about the march that happened on Saturday. I’m sorry that you felt like you couldn’t do what you wanted to do that day. Me and my husband went to the March on Saturday.
‘We just wanted to say that we are not racists or far-right. We’re just a normal couple that live in West Sussex with our 21 year old. We do not follow Tommy Robinson but he was the one who organised the march. If it was organised by someone else we still would have gone.
‘People have got to the point where we’re not happy with the country the way it is or the way it’s going. Yes, we’re not happy about people coming over in boats but they could be coming from Norwegian countries and we still would have a problem with it,’ the message added.
Ranvir then explained she had only ever been aiming for a conversation, adding: ‘For me that was the kind of conversation I was trying to have yesterday. There’s a lot of people who are just feeling frustrated.
‘It’s difficult for someone like me to speak up on controversial subjects because you do get a lot of hate. But it’s worth doing it when 100s of people have got in touch.
‘A lot of the hate towards me was saying that it was a far-right rally, but that’s what we’re describing it as it’s the biggest far-right rally that’s been organised by the UK in our living memory.
Tommy Robinson led a Unite the Kingdom march through central London that saw 150,000 protesters fly flags and air concerns about migrations and small boats
‘The idea that a lot of people hate the fact that it’s been called a far-right rally is not my problem,’ she continued.
‘That’s exactly the point I was making, that lots of people feel to go to things like that and follow people they might not really agree with because they don’t know where else to go with there concerns.’
The ITV presenter’s comments come after Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march brought between 110,000 and 150,000 protesters to central London on Saturday in what is believed to be the largest right-wing demonstration in British history.
While the rally began largely peacefully as demonstrators voiced their anger over free speech and Britain’s small boats crisis, it exploded into violence when protesters and counter-protesters closed in on each other along Whitehall.
Met Police chiefs blasted anti-migrant protesters for displaying a ‘wholly unacceptable’ level of violence – with at least 25 people arrested and 26 police officers injured, including four who were seriously hurt.
The force said it faced ‘significant aggression’ from protesters as officers attempted to police the event, with many assaulted and peppered with missiles.
