Lily Allen has expressed her regret for apologising on behalf of the UK for the refugee crisis in Calais.
The singer faced criticism in 2016 when during a meeting with an Afghan teenager at the jungle camp, she said sorry “on behalf of my country” for “what we have put you through”.
She has now admitted her words were “clumsy” and she felt “foolish” for them, but insisted she had the right intentions.
Writing in her new memoir, ‘My Thoughts Exactly’, Lily said: “It was a clumsy thing to say. I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry,’ and I wanted to acknowledge that I was part of the problem, and that we are all part of the problem if we don’t do more to help.
“The words came out badly, and for that I felt foolish. I was embarrassed about putting it like that.”
She continued: “I can be a moron. But my intentions were straightforward and without any agenda. I just wanted to help, in whatever tiny way I could.”
Lily went on to say the online bullying she received as a result of her comments was “off the charts”, with her children also becoming targets of abuse.
Her film in the Calais refugee camp was filmed for the BBC’s ‘Victoria Derbyshire Show’, and saw a teenager telling her how the Taliban had tried to kill him, and how he had tried to seek refuge in the UK to escape them.
Lily broke down in tears as she then told him: “It just seems that at three different intervals in this young boy’s life, the English in particular have put you in danger.
“We’ve bombed your country, put you in the hands of the Taliban and now put you in danger of risking your life to get into our country.
“I apologise on behalf of my country. I’m sorry for what we have put you through.”
