David Starkey slammed for calling Mehdi Hasan ‘Ahmed’ on Question Time
Gay historian David Starkey has been labelled a bigot for referring to political journalist Mehdi Hasan as ‘Ahmed’.
Mr Starkey – who has made a long string of controversial comments – made the gaffe on Question Time last night.
While talking about the Charlie Hebdo attacks, he accused modern Islam of being “backward”, and claimed that “nothing important” has been written in Arabic for five centuries.
“I’m sure we will hear from Ahmed, in France there are very strict rules.”
Mr Hasan – who recently left Huffington Post to work for Al Jazeera – later hit back: “Given you can’t get my name right – my name is Mehdi, not Ahmed – I would question your selective quotation of somebody else.”
Host David Dimbelby also had to intervene to stop Mr Starkey from speaking over other panellists, saying: “David, leave it please, you are not the only person on this panel as you well know.”
Elsewhere in the show, he appeared to blame a female victim of a paedophile grooming gang.
Twitter reacted with outrage to the historian’s comments – with users branding Mr Starkey a “xenephobe” and a “racist”. One user joked: “It’s political incorrectness gone mad.”
Rampant xenophobe David Starkey calls @mehdirhasan ‘Ahmed’ on #bbcqt – you couldn’t make it up. Could the BBC just stop inviting this idiot?
— Asim Haneef (@Asimhaneef) January 15, 2015
.@mehdirhasan quite rightly corrects David Starkey for calling him Ahmed instead of what he is called. Silly old bigot #bbcqt
— mandy rhodes (@holyroodmandy) January 15, 2015
David Starkey called @mehdirhasan “Ahmed” – what an ignorant fool.
— Paddy J Cawkwell (@PaddyJCawkwell) January 15, 2015
#bbcqt the pompous maniac david starkey just called mehdi hassan Ahmed!
— mardy bum (@Mardiebotham) January 15, 2015
David Starkey blames victim in teenage teacher grooming case. It’s political incorrectness gone mad. #Starkey #bbcqt
— Lee Jasper (@LeeJasper) January 15, 2015
Here’s a vine of David Starkey being asked to be quiet. The beauty of vine is it repeats over and over again. #bbcqt https://t.co/c38ICe9VRt
— Brendan Miller (@brenkjm) January 15, 2015
Appearing on Question Time in 2011, he warned against creating a “new tyranny” after a Christian couple with anti-gay views were stopped from fostering children.
Starkey said he had profound doubts about the decision and that being “nice and sweet about gays isn’t wholly a good thing”.
Writing in The Telegraph in June 2012, Starkey questioned whether equal marriage was really necessary at all.
In a discussion on Newsnight about the riots of 2011, Starkey said: ”The whites have become black”.
