Katie Hopkins wants "to do a documentary where I live as a Muslim in a burka"

Categories: Latest News
Monday December 29 2014
The Daily Mirror reports on controversial Sun columnist, Katie Hopkins’ latest media venture: “to do a documentary where I live as a Muslim in a burka.”
The Daily Mirror notes Hopkins’ stated intention expressed in a newspaper column in which she wrote that she would “like to go into central London and do the moonwalk in a burka but I probably won’t be allowed.”
Hopkins doesn’t explain why she would like to don a burqa for a documentary, nor why she wants to do a moonwalk in one in central London. If she was hoping for originality, she’s missed the boat.
Richard Peppiatt, a former journalist for the Daily Star conducted a similar experiment some years ago when he wore a burqa for a day for a feature article in the paper. Peppiatt later regretted his actions and his contribution to stoking anti-Muslim prejudice acknowledging that the article was “for a piece reinforcing the Star’s view that it [the burqa] should be banned in Britain”. Resigning from the paper in March 2011, Peppiatt highlighted the paper’s “hatemongering” and later expressed regret over the possibility of “incit[ing] acts of racially-aggravated violence” inspired by the Star’s divisive articles.
Hopkins herself has expressed support for a burqa ban. In a column written for The Sun earlier this year, Hopkins wrote, “Having two menacing eyes staring at me from a slit makes me feel like I have opened my letterbox to find someone looking in.
“If only the British Prime Minister would ban the burqa, then Britain would feel a lot more like home.”
The Daily Mirror ponders Hopkins’ motive suggesting that it “seems unlikely it is being done to gain empathy with people from other religions.”
Given Hopkins’ penchant for provoking reactions with her outlandish statements and her recent anti-Muslim remarks, the Daily Mirror could well be right.