A Channel 5 show host has come under fire for his comments regarding the funeral of HRH Prince Philip.
Jeremy Vine, the host of the channel 5 show ‘The Jeremy Vine Show’, questioned whether or not it was right that there will be no people of colour attending the funeral of the Prince who died last week.
Funerals are currently limited to thirty people under the new coronavirus legislation, which will mean that access to the funeral will be severely restricted.
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Mr Vine asked a guest on his show whether, given that the UK is an ethnically diverse country, it was right that there would only be white people attending the funeral. He said:
“We are going to see a group of thirty people who are going to be at this very restricted funeral, and I am imagining it will be thirty people who are white. I am just trying to think whether there is anybody of colour in there. Do you think that is a problem?”
This led to complaints that Mr Vine had been using Prince Phillip’s funeral to stoke racial division in the country.
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Political commentator Calvin Robinson wrote on Twitter:
Jeremy Vine even manages to turn HRH Prince Philip’s funeral into a race issue. 🤯
I’m so tired of this divisive narrative. Identity politics has taken over and it’s insidious.
I appreciate the irony of this, but can we please stop talking about race!pic.twitter.com/7gTD4pMiZp
— Fr Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) April 15, 2021
