Sonia Kruger still in hot water over Muslim immigrant comments

It’s been almost two years since Sonia Kruger sparked outrage with her comments linking Muslim immigration and terrorist attacks, but the drama isn’t over yet.

Kruger angered many Aussies and offended thousands of Muslim immigrants when she appeared on the Today show’s Mixed Grill segment in 2016 to discuss migration issues.

At the time, there was a fierce debate in the public domain about the rate of Muslim immigration to Australia and the growing terror threat around the world. Sonia drew the ire of the public and her co-panelists David Campbell and former Today show host Lisa Wilkinson when said she she believes there is a direct link to Muslim immigration and terrorist attacks.

“… There is a correlation between the number of people who are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks,” she said at the time.

“I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful, but there are fanatics.

“I would like to see it stopped now for Australia because I want to feel safe, as all our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day and I’d like to see freedom of speech as well.”

Her comments were met with a flood of criticism and, according to The Courier Mail, led Sam Ekermawi, a Muslim living in Australia, to lodge a racial vilification compliant with the Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Nine Network reportedly applied to have the complaint dismissed without hearing, arguing Kruger’s comment was about migration not race, but was knocked back once again on Tuesday, when the Tribunal ruled the matter will proceed for directions next month.

In excepts of a letter to the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW, published in The Courier Mail, Ekermawi wrote: “Kruger wants borders closed to Muslims, in that she’s implying that they are terrorists (sic) to dehumanise them.”

At the time the controversy broke, Nine CEO Hugh Marks stood by Kruger and said her comments were all part of a healthy debate and that he saw no need to stifle.

“Free-to-air television is a really broad church,” he said.

“As an audience member you can form your own view one way or another. It is not up to us [Nine] to shake our fingers. It is for us to provide that broad-based commentary.

Do you remember when this story first broke? Did you agree with Sonia or did you think she was in the wrong?