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Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha and her husband Mark Adderley have hit out at Rachel Riley for her ‘mealy-mouthed’ apology over her remarks about the Sydney stabbing.
The Countdown star, 38, was accused of Islamophobia after she linked the horror attack carried out by Joel Cauchi, 40, who suffered from mental health problems, to a call for a holy uprising in a now-deleted tweet.
After facing calls to be sacked from Channel 4, Riley later said ‘sorry’ if her message had been ‘misunderstood’ on the social media site.
Reflecting on Riley’s apology, Sawalha, 59, said on her YouTube channel Coffee Moanings shared with her husband Mark: ‘It wasn’t really an apology.’
Adderley agreed with Sawalha and described it as ‘mealy-mouthed’ sorry over a ‘racist conflation.’
He also said the fallout over Riley’s tweet had ‘hijacked’ the ‘genuine trauma’ in Sydney in a rampage that killed six people.
Riley had said the Sydney attack was linked to a ‘Globalised Intifada’ Picture: Shutterstock)
Summing up the furor, Adderley said in the video: ‘The lady who does numbers she connected [the Sydney stabbing] to Islamic terror extremism. She suggested it was a terror attack.’
He continued: ‘It was a sensationalist conflating of unconnected things in a desire to suggest that there’s a sort of irrational hatred at the heart of any support for Palestine.’
Sawalha pointed out that Riley has a strong social media presence, including nearly 700K followers on X, and said spreading her message was ‘irresponsible.’
Sawalha and Adderley condemned Riley’s original tweet (Picture: The Sawalha-Adderleys)
She continued: ‘These tweets alight and are then shared and shared again, and then shared again. And so it’s irresponsible.’
In her apology statement, Riley said that her ‘intention was not to say this attack was caused by any ideation or to link it to Islamic extremism.’
The former Strictly Come Dancing star continued: ‘At the time we did not know who the attacker was, and as such I made no reference.
‘My aim was to highlight the weekly calls for “intifada” being tolerated in London and around the world, which in actuality means violence on our streets.
Adderley described Riley’s apology as ‘mealy-mouthed’ (Picture: Instagram)
‘For 6 months now, I have avoided taking the tube, or going with my kids to anywhere near the marches each Saturday, and each week we see the extremist chants on proud display with little outcry.’
Riley has two children with her husband Pasha Kovalev, whom she met after they were paired together on Strictly.
‘Sadly, the type of attack seen in Sydney yesterday is exactly the kind of violence the previous intifada involved and I hope to avoid in future, but in my opinion ignoring the problem won’t make it go away,’ Riley continued.
‘Attacks on Jews have recently become repackaged as “resistance” in some circles, and we should in one voice condemn all acts of violence, whoever the perpetrators and whoever the victims.
Channel 4 faced called to sack Riley after the tweet (Picture: Channel 4)
‘I am sorry if this message was misunderstood, that was not my intention.’
She later posted a second statement after thinking about it ‘all day’.
‘I’m sorry to those I offended. My post was ambiguous and although it was genuinely designed to call out calls for violence, it wasn’t the right place or time which made it easier to misinterpret, and I apologise,’ she began.
‘I know nuance isn’t popular online, and even though I’m certain many of the people calling this out are the same people who’ve been trying to shut me up or have me fired for the last 6 years, who would happily join in the calls for violence against their enemies, I’m also sure there are those who don’t fall into that camp, and it is to them I write this now.
‘I too have been subject to assault in recent months and it was a Muslim woman and her husband who came to see if I was ok afterwards. I’m grateful to them and wish to undo any offence caused to the community.’
The original tweet sparked mass outrage on social media with many calling for Channel 4 to sack her.
When approached for comment about Riley’s remarks, a spokesperson for Channel 4 said: ‘We have reminded Rachel of her obligations as a contributor to Channel 4 programming.’
Riley’s original tweet said: ‘For 6 months now, people have been out on our streets proudly calling for the “Intifada Revolution.”
Riley said she had ‘avoided going with my kids to anywhere near the marches each Saturday’ (Picture: PA)
‘If you want to know what “Globalised Intifada” looks like, see the Sydney Mall.
‘5 victims stabbed to death and 8 transferred to hospital, including a baby, due to one man and a knife.
‘In the second intifada over 1,000 Israelis were murdered in restaurants, on buses and in the streets by suicide bombings, stabbings, stoning, lynching, shooting rockets. The youngest victim was just 9 hours old.
‘Sydney Mall, multiple times over is what they’ve been proudly calling for.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted Riley’s reps for comment.
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