James O'Brien Ridicules Critics Of Lily Allen, She Calls In

13 October 2016, 10:46 | Updated: 13 October 2016, 13:37

How dare Lily Allen go to Calais and meet people before reaching conclusions about them. Doesn't she know she can just get her opinions from the Mail Online, asks James O'Brien.

Newspapers have criticised the singer after she apologised for the way Britain has responded to the migrant crisis as she visited the Jungle camp in Calais.

Speaking on his LBC show, James said: "The Taliban are diametrically opposed to young women being independently minded and speaking their thoughts.

"I could open up the phone lines now and form a queue of people here who also hate it and think that Lily Allen is disgraceful for speaking her mind.

"'Goddamn Lily Allen for actually traveling to Calais to meet people and look at a situation before forming an opinion about it. Doesn't she know she could get all her opinions straight from the Mail Online? She doesn't need to actually go there and meet people and see things and demonstrate compassion."

Soon after, Lily actually phoned in to James to set the record straight on what she calls the "xenophobic narrative" behind attacks on her.

"You expect to get a kicking on social media," said James. "But have you been surprised to actually see so-called journalists joining in, actually proper professionals joining in this witch-hunt of you for having the audacity to look at things with your own eyes?"

Lily responded: "No! I'm not surprised at all, in fact I expected it. What they seem to have picked up on is I apologised on behalf of the nation, but it was an emotional moment I was affected by.

"Perhaps I could have chosen my words better and said: I apologise for the part the country I come from has played in the situation you're currently experiencing. But that was what I said.

"It is being used to support the xenophobic rhetoric and narrative that we are currently experiencing, especially in the mainstream press."

Would the reaction be enough to stop Lily doing it again?

"No. Not at all. People are outraged, quite rightly, they're experiencing some horrific cuts and austerity in this country. I don't berate those people for having this kind of opinion, they're being fed a lie by the media.

"There are desperate people in this country, but it's not refugees that are the problem, it's this government."