Sonia Kruger on The Today Show. SCREENGRAB from The Today Show’s Twitter account
Sonia Kruger, an Australian TV host and a former longtime host of Australia’s franchise of “Dancing with the Stars,” has called on the Australian government to ban Muslims moving into the “Land Down Under.”
Kruger, a co-host of the country’s “Today Extra” show on Sunday, aired her opinion during a panel discussion regarding a controversial column by Australian journalist Andrew Bolt, who said France was facing a string of heinous terrorist assaults because it embraced many Muslims, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
She claimed there was a “significant correlation” between the number of Muslims in a country and the number of crimes related to terrorism and radicalism.
Andrew Bolt believes Muslim migration in France has opened the door to terror. Thoughts? #9Today https://t.co/d1VIqB0PVv
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 17, 2016
She also said she had Muslim friends who “are peace-loving, who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics.”
“Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia because I want to feel safe as all of our citizens do when we go out to celebrate Australia Day,” the media personality opined.
In contrast, she cited the example of Japan, which has a population of 174 million, including 100,000 Muslims, and yet “you never hear of terrorist attacks in Japan.”
Co-host David Campbell tried to interrupt her and deflect the discussion, saying he wanted to see freedom of expression and religion. However, Kruger continued her anti-Muslim rants: “I would venture that if you spoke to the parents of those children killed in Nice, they would be of the same opinion.”
Lisa Wilkinson, one of the show’s hosts who was apparently irked by Kruger’s anti-Muslim statements, mentioned that “good Muslim people were dying as a result of terrorist acts” and that the first casualty of the recent Nice attacks in France was a Muslim woman.
“Just to clarify, Sonia, are you saying you would like our borders closed to Muslims at this point?” Wilkinson finally asked, to which Kruger answered in the affirmative. Then, Wilkinson labeled Sonia’s thinking synonymous to the “Donald Trump approach.”
Kruger’s statements flickered a furious debate on social networking site Twitter, with some users praising her for being honest and some chastising her for her “inappropriate” racist remarks. Gianna Francesca Catolico