Lord Kilclooney, a member of the House of Lords, has been told to apologize for referring to U.S Vice President-Elect Kamal Harris as "The Indian" in one of his tweets.
Offensive tweet
The Lord posted on his official Twitter account "What happens if Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?"
Harris has made history as the first female, the first black and the first Asian-American Vice President-elect in the United States. After the Lord Speaker called on him to retract his statement and apologize, Lord Kilclooney agreed to withdraw his remark.
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However, the peer from Northern Ireland denied his tweet was racist and he did not apologize for his original comment, according to Metro.Co.
Lord Kilclooney posted an follow-up tweet and said that while President-Elect Joe Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is proud of her Indian background, he withdraws his reference to her as an Indian as it has upset people.
Lord Kilclooney also said the did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian, and again denies that he is racist.
The Lord is also known as John Taylor. He was a former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and he is now in the House of Lords as a crossbench life peer.
Parliament defends Harris
Numerous members of the Parliament have described Lord Kilclooney's original tweet about Harris as racist and have made formal complaints with the Lord Speaker's office, according to The Huffington Post.
Stormont's First Minister Arlene Foster tweeted that calling someone based on their race and not their name is offensive. Meanwhile, Lord Speaker Lord Fowler said that Lord Kilclooney should retract and apologize as calling her by her race is offensive especially to a woman who just made history.
Lord Speaker also said that the comment of Lord Kilclooney is unacceptable and has no place in British politics. Baroness Smith, Labour's leader in the House of Lords, is among those who said they would report Lord Kilclooney over his insensitive and racist remarks.
Fond of India
Conservative MP Simon Hoare, who chairs the Norther Ireland affairs select committee, also said that he had submitted a formal complaint against the Lord. He described Lord Kilclooney's tweet was bad, rude, racist and appalling.
Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris is an American citizen who was born in Oakland, California, two to immigrant parents. Her mother was Indian and her father was Jamaican.
Lord Kilclooney told the PA news agency as the controversy continued that the first thing is to get it in perspective, the criticism is minor, the support is massive and he had never had so many Twitter followers in one day.
Lord John Kilclooney added that he is fond of India himself and he is a member of the British India all-party group. He said he have two Indian tenants in his flats in London and there is nothing racist in his tweet. He added that Harris is proud of her Indian roots just as Biden is proud of his Irish roots.
Despite his explanation, the backlash continued online as people are still quoting his tweet, reminding Lord Kilclooney that "the Indian" has a name.
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