Rylan’s comments arrived while he was filling in on This Morning
Susanna discusssed the story with paneliest Kevin Maguire on the ITV programme(Image: ITV)
Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid has defended Rylan Clark over his immigration comments on This Morning.
X Factor star Rylan made headlines on the ITV breakfast show last week during his presenting stint alongside Josie Gibson.
A clip from Wednesday’s (August 27) show went viral on social media, as the presenters filling in for Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard spoke to Camilla Tominey and Tim Campbell about the latest news headlines.
Discussing immigration, Rylan said: “This country is built on immigration. Legal immigration — a lot of the nurses, the doctors that have saved my mum’s life have come over here from other countries. They’re living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system, they’re helping this country thrive.”
He added: “I find it absolutely insane that all these people are risking their lives coming across the Channel.
“And when they get here, it does seem, and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are saying there’s something wrong, it feels like, ‘Welcome, come on in’. That’s the narrative we’re being fed.”
Noting that his opinion was ‘going to upset someone’, Rylan said that everyone would have an opinion on the subject.
While Rylan’s comments sparked a debate online, he didn’t mention his comments during the final two days of his This Morning stint.
Rylan Clark on This Morning(Image: ITV)
Issuing a statement on Instagram following backlash to his comments, Rylan wrote: “You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women.
“You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. The list continues. Stop with this ‘putting everyone in a box’ exercise and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter.”
On Tuesday’s (September 2) episode of Good Morning Britain Susanna and her co-presenter Ed Balls were joined by regular panellists Kevin Maguire and Andrew Pierce.
“All these terrible myths that Rylan Clark regurgitated, spouted most of them,” Kevin said.
Interrupting Kevin, Susanna stated: “Hang on. He pointed out that this country is built on immigration, and he was grateful to all of the migrants who have come to the NHS for helping support his mum.
“He was actually concerned, though, that we’ve got a sort of welcome to the UK, and we don’t know who all of these people are.
“I have to say, Kevin, it is the duty of the government, as the government itself would acknowledge, that we control borders and we do not just welcome everybody if we don’t know who they are.”
She continued: “And I think Rylan’s message struck a chord with a lot of people… He did not want it to be an anti-migration message.”
Kevin replied: “He also regurgitated a load of myths and lies. Let’s not ignore that… Myths and lies have gone mainstream, and we’ve got to challenge that, we’ve got to push back on that.”
Concluding the segment, Susanna said: “Rylan also pointed out that we also have a homelessness problem, the government itself acknowledges that there’s not enough housing.
“So, I just think that to say that what Rylan said was outrageous, regurgitating propaganda [was wrong].”