Loose Women presenter Charlene White has hit out at critics following a discussion with Janet Street Porter over the Ukraine crisis on the ITV show.
White was accused of ‘playing the race card’ in Tuesday’s programme as the panel discussed racism at the Ukrainian borders.
In response to criticism online Charlene took to Twitter to address the claims of “Playing ther ace card”.
She said: “For those throwing the phrase, "playing the race card" at me today re @loosewomen... let me be VERY clear. You feeling uncomfortable hearing someone talking about race is not my concern, when the concern ought to be directed towards the victims who are subjected to it.”
For those throwing the phrase, "playing the race card" at me today re @loosewomen... let me be VERY clear. You feeling uncomfortable hearing someone talking about race is not my concern, when the concern ought to be directed towards the victims who are subjected to it.
— Charlene White (@CharleneWhite) March 1, 2022
ITV Loose Women discuss racism at Ukraine border
Charlene raised the topic of stories raised by people who said they were not being allowed to cross the border because of the colour of their skin.
Charlene said: "But there is one thing that has really shone a light on where I'm concerned, that has really stuck out to me, is that in the midst of all of this, the midst of people trying to flee from their homes, the midst of them trying to dodge bullets and bombs, they still have time for racism.
"Because you've got thousands of Black, Asian, Syrian, Arab students and workers who have also been trying to get out of Ukraine and have been prevented from doing so due to the incessant racism that they have experienced. They've not been allowed to go through the border into Poland from example, where they've been pushed back."
She added: "There are posters up saying no black ... It really does shine a light on the fact that it doesn't matter how devastated someone is, how scared somebody is, it seems like there's always time for one of the worst traits of society."
Janet replied: "I hear what you’re saying, and I completely understand it and on the news last night, they did show some of the students talking about how bad they were treated and the effort it had taken for them to actually get on the train and get across the border.
“But I also think Poland, for example, has exceeded all expectations in accepting 150,000 refugees."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here