Controversy Mounts After David Starkey's 'Whites Have Become Black' Newsnight Appearance

Should David Starkey Publicly Apologise For Newsnight Comments? (POLL)

David Starkey's controversial Newsnight appearance where he said white people had "become black" and that Enoch Powell was "right" has attracted more controversy.

An online petition is now circulating demanding he apologises for the comments, which can be found here.

Owen Jones, the author who appeared on Newsnight during the debate where Starkey made his comments said his language was dangerous, writing in the New Statesman: "Some would argue that it's not worth even engaging with such apparent bigotry, but -- uncomfortable as it may make many of us -- his arguments will have resonated with many. We have to take them on."

Cambridge academic Starkey claimed on Newsnight: "A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become fashion and the black and white, boy and girl, operate in this language together.

"The whites have become black. This language which is wholly false, which is this Jamaican patois that’s intruded in England, and this is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country."

Conservative MP Louise Mensch also tweeted she was outraged by the remarks, saying that those who were attempting to defend his comments were "excusing the inexcusable".

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