Singer Lily Allen claimed she had “only ever been sexually assaulted by white males” during a Twitter row with English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson over migrants.
Lily and Tommy exchanged barbs online after she criticised the use of the word “migrant” in an article about the Turkish nightclub attack, which she said was “racism”.
Tommy said that Lily was “virtue signalling” by speaking out about racism, and said that she does not care “about the dead people”, to which she replied: “Don’t see you mourning too much for the innocent in Aleppo Tommy.”
He later wrote to Lily about her October visit to former refugee migrant camp the Jungle in Calais: “Have you ever met or spoke (sic) to a victim of the Muslim grooming gangs, you don’t need to go Calais to hear horror stories.”
She responded: “I’ve only ever been sexually assaulted by white males so I feel slightly biased.”
Another Twitter user replied: “You know what, the police should just lock up all white males as it seems we do everything evil in this world.”
The London-born pop star wrote: “That’s a bit strong, but restricting their movement on a global scale could be a good idea.”
I've only ever been sexually assaulted by white males so I feel slightly biased. https://t.co/jaiCZ8sWeV
— lily allen (@lilyallen) January 1, 2017
Tommy also attacked Lily’s stance on wanting to help refugees.The former EDL leader wrote: “Our countries (sic) responsibility 1st & foremost is the safety & security of OUR people, not people in the Middle East.”Lily replied: “Where does it say that?”
Where does it say that ? https://t.co/FVA1VmRzUM
— lily allen (@lilyallen) January 1, 2017
She later responded to a message from another Twitter user who accused her of being racist.
“If your (sic) trying to educate people that a race isn’t at fault for everything why would you do that by blaming another race? @lilyallen #Racist,” the post read.
Lily replied: “Trying to point out that sexual deviants and murderers operate within every culture, regardless of religious persuasion.”
The row comes three months after the Smile hit-maker was criticised for apologising on behalf of the UK during her visit to the Jungle, where she volunteered in a warehouse where donations came in before being distributed to the thousands of migrants and refugees living there.
In scenes that aired on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme, she broke down in tears while meeting a 13-year-old boy from Afghanistan who said his father lives in Birmingham but who himself had camped at the Jungle for two months.
In late October Lily also said she and her daughters were turned away from a black cab by the driver after being told to “find an immigrant” to give her a ride instead.
She said at the time she felt like she had a “glimpse of what it feels like to be discriminated against”.
A representative for Lily declined to comment.
