Jedward demand Winston Churchill statue be torn down and thrown into Piers Morgan’s garden
Jedward called for a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square to be torn down. (Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty)
Jedward want the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square torn down and thrown into Piers Morgan’s garden after police protected it at a protest.
There was widespread anger when a vigil for Sarah Everard on Saturday evening (13 March) turned violent, with policemen photographed pushing, shoving and dragging women away from the scene.
On Sunday (14 March), thousands gathered outside Scotland Yard to protest against the excessive force used by police at Saturday’s protest. Police responded by forming a protective circle around the statue of Churchill. According to writer Sian Bradley, officers were instructed to “protect Churchill at all costs”.
John and Edward Grimes – better known as Jedward – have now called for the statue to be removed.
“Get that Winston Churchill statue and f**k it into Piers Morgan’s back garden it has no place in today’s society!” the Irish twins tweeted.
Get that Winston Churchill statue and fuck it into Piers Morgan’s back garden it has no place in today’s society!
— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) March 15, 2021
Jedward were inundated with furious messages from some of Winston Churchill’s biggest supporters, including Piers Morgan himself.
“I’d be honoured to have that statue in my garden,” Morgan tweeted.
Police surrounding a statue of Winston Churchill. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty)
“Churchill saved Britain from the Nazis and contributed more to society every time he breathed than you talentless disrespectful clowns have done in your combined 58 years of gormless tuneless imbecility,” he added.
But Jedward also won praise for the tweet, with many thanking them for drawing attention to the former prime minister’s divisive legacy.
Winston Churchill has been branded ‘a racist and white supremacist’
There was significant controversy in 2014 when Labour candidate Benjamin Whittingham described Churchill as “a racist and white supremacist”.
The Conservative politician, who led Britain through the Second World War, infamously supported the slogan “Keep England White” and once described Indians as “a beastly people”.
He also believed British imperialism was a good thing, claiming that “by conquering and dominating other peoples, the British were also elevating and protecting them”.
According to John Charmley, author of Churchill: The End of Glory, Churchill believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics. He supported the view that white protestant Christians were at the top of the chain, while Africans were at the bottom.
He has also faced criticism for his handling of the Bengal famine, in which three million people died, with studies suggesting that policy failures caused the death toll to spike. He was accused of blaming Indians for the enormous food shortages, saying they were “breeding like rabbits”.
Jedward rose to fame on The X Factor in 2009, and later represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest twice.
In more recent times, they have made a name for themselves as outspoken social media stars.
