Sparking outrage after she called for the closure of Australian borders to Muslim people in the wake of the Nice terror attacks, Sonia Kruger has responded to her critics.
Posting on Twitter, the TV host says she should be “able to discuss these issues without automatically being labelled a racist”.
She says discussion of such issues is “vital in a democratic society”. Sonia’s co-host, David Campbell, also posted on Twitter after the incident, declaring that “words were not his friends”.
Earlier today, while appearing on The Today Show, Kruger was speaking about Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt’s most recent column, which attributed the rise of terror attacks in France to their intake of Muslim immigrants.
“I think Andrew Bolt has a point here… there is a correlation between the number of people in a country who are Muslim, and the number of terrorist attacks,” she said.
"I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics."
"Personally, I would like to see [Muslim immigration] stop now for Australia, I want to feel safe, and I want to see freedom of speech," she continued.
Her co-host David Campbell interrupted, disagreeing with Sonia's statement and calling for "freedom of religion".
"They both go hand in hand! This breeds hate, this sort of article breeds hate," he argued.
Viewers on Twitter were also quick to slam Sonia's stance:
Some viewers congratulated Sonia Kruger for "speaking up" about what "many Australian's think".
Representatives for both Sonia Kruger and The Today Show have been approached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Nine Network said the comments reflected the variety of opinions expressed on the show.
"Nine's view is that we believe in freedom of speech and the Mixed Grill segment on the TODAY show is a place where that happens," the spokesperson said.
"Sonia, David and Lisa each expressed a variety of opinions on the show this morning."
This isn't the first time the TV host has been embroiled in racial controversy - in 2008, Channel 7 was forced to apologised after Kruger made distasteful comments towards Dancing With The Stars musical director Chong Lim.
Referencing her outfits for the Melbourne Cup, Sonia joked, "Let's just say there's a sweatshop full of illegal immigrants working on them right now", before asking Chong how his family was.
Viewers were outraged and complained that her comments were in poor taste.
"In this instance, it's worth remembering that Sonia and Chong have been working together over eight series of Dancing With The Stars. They're very good friends and enjoy each other's company very much. However, to any viewer who took offence, without any reservation, we apologise," a Seven spokeswoman said after the controversy.
Sonia later spoke about her remarks, revealing she had "no intention" to be racist.
Top Comments
Thank you Sonia for an honest opinion...freedom of speech!
Considering Lisa Wilkinson always has to have the last say on everything, I was absolutely disgusted, but not surprised, at the way she ducked for cover.
Ugh this is such a hard topic that it's too easy to get caught up on a few words and everything gets blown up.
I wish the solution for safety was as simple as shutting all the Muslims out. If we could say for certain that they are all a problem and all extremists and that's that. But that's not the case. Not all Muslims are extremists and not all extremists are Muslim. Yes, there are a portion of that community who have taken bits and pieces and radicalised the teachings of their religion, but they in no way represent the masses. It's not the whole. It's the few. To say that the way to stop the attacks is to close the gates To people of this religion and race is like saying that all red heads are angry people and they can't live here. Or all Capricorns are stubborn so they aren't welcome. Or all middle children are screwed up so they aren't allowed either. It doesn't work. These blanket statements are untrue for a vast majority. Yes there are people who are willing to run the risk and exclude the guilty along with the innocent, but to do that would not only Cause us to miss out on some truly great people and experiences, but cause us to compromise the very fabric of our nation. We are a multicultural society here and base our lives on the premise that no one is lesser than anyone else, be they A different age, color, gender, race or religion. We are all equal. To think any other way is to let the hate win.
If shutting the Muslims out were a sound solution and solved the problem then I'd be all for it. If they were all truly evil and extremist terrorists then absolutely we should lock them out. But they aren't. And we can't punish the masses who are good people, for the truly awful few. It isn't fair, or right and it doesn't fix the problem.