Sky News Australia has admitted a failure of editorial process allowed a guest to deliver a highly offensive diatribe against Islam while wearing a shirt festooned with raw bacon rashers.<\/p>\n
Introducing the UK-based man as a \u201csocial media sensation\u201d, Sky News host Freya Leach sat mute while Ryan Williams called Muslims terrorists and explained he \u201cwore\u201d bacon to protect himself from alleged threats of beheading.<\/p>\n
Most of what he said on live television on Sunday night is too offensive to repeat, but Williams has said online his intention is \u201cto inflict maximum damage on Islam\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was one of the guests on Freya Fires Up on Sunday night, a relatively new show on Sky News Australia, a rightwing channel owned by News Corp Australia.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Sky News Australia said the program \u201ctook immediate action during the live broadcast to cut off the guest\u201d and Leach quickly apologised to viewers. \u201cThe content was not republished on any of our platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise the harm such rhetoric can cause and take full responsibility for this failure in our editorial processes,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
In 2018 Sky News sparked outcry<\/a> after it invited Blair Cottrell, a far-right extremist who has expressed his admiration for Hitler, for a studio interview to discuss immigration.<\/p>\n Despite not being posted online by Sky, the Williams video has spread and many of his followers have congratulated him for the stunt, with one posting \u201cAll hail the bacon cloak!!\u201d<\/p>\n The far-right identity known as Tommy Robinson posted a segment of the interview on X, referring to Williams as a hero.<\/p>\n Sky News said Williams was asked for his reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination, but he should not have been invited on the program at all.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have begun an immediate review of the program including our guest booking and vetting procedures to prevent this type of incident from occurring again.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Amanda Meade’s weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The appearance of Williams on Sky News Australia was first reported by the Age<\/a>.<\/p>\n Williams told his Instagram followers he expects to be arrested for hate speech.<\/p>\n