Julie Burchill makes ‘full’ apology for racist abuse of fellow writer

Julie Burchill

Writer and columnist Julie Burchill has issued a 600-word “unreserved” apology and agreed to pay substantial damages after a two-week campaign of abuse against journalist Ash Sarkar.

In December, Burchill accused Ms Sarkar on Twitter of condoning paedophilia worshipping the Prophet Muhammad and supporting Islamist terrorism.

In her apology, Ms Burchill said: “I should not have sent these tweets, some of which included racist and misogynist comments regarding Ms Sarkar’s appearance and her sex life.”

The Daily Telegraph columnist continued: “I was also wrong to have ‘liked’ other posts on Facebook and Twitter about her which were offensive, including one which called for her to kill herself, and another which speculated whether she had been a victim of FGM (female genital mutilation).”

The damages – the amount of which has not been revealed – were agreed in an out of court settlement.

Ms Sarkar, who is also a political activist, told the BBC: “The comments were shocking and incredibly upsetting, and they also kicked off a lot of abuse from other people on social media. People speculated (on) whether I’m really a woman, really a Muslim, and I was subjected to rape threats and threats of physical violence.”

‘Couldn’t sleep’

Ms Burchill’s tweets began after Ms Sarkar posted a tweet referring to a Spectator article published in 2012 by Rod Liddle, in which he wrote that the one thing that stopped him from becoming a teacher was the risk of him having sex with his pupils.

Ms Sarkar expressed disbelief over the piece and said she thought at first it was “a parody”.

Ms Burchill has now said she regrets the way she reacted and “unreservedly and unconditionally” apologised for her “hurtful and unacceptable statements”.

Ms Sarkar added: “The intensity of the abuse, along with Julie Burchill’s continuing derogatory posts about me, severely impacted my mental health. I couldn’t sleep, and had bouts of trembling and heart palpitations. For the first time in my life, I was prescribed anti-anxiety medication.”

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The tweets, which were posted over a period of nearly two weeks and included poems and a reference to the Israeli Defence Force, have now been deleted.

It is blasphemy to worship the Prophet Muhammad because he is not divine and equal to Allah, which Ms Burchill – who had accused Ms Sarkar of doing so – said she “now understood”.

‘Crossed a line’

“I read multiple tweets from Burchill speculating about whether I’m any good in bed, and insults about me supposedly having a moustache. Strange poems popped up referring to me as ‘Ashtray’, portraying lurid sexual fantasies,” Ms Sarkar continued.

Ms Burchill also had her book publishing deal cancelled last year as a result.

The subject of Welcome to the Woke Trials was Ms Burchill’s concerns about vitriol and abuse following the reaction to an article she had written in 2013.

The publisher’s description read: “Burchill hadn’t anticipated the vitriolic reaction that her words would provoke. She was pursued by the outrage mob.”

Before the tweets emerged, the publisher, Little Brown, said said it was an attempt to make a case for “progressive” politics and a “common humanity.”

However, in the apology, Ms Burchill said Ms Sarkar was not responsible for the cancellation of her deal. Her publisher had in fact made the decision after seeing Ms Burchill’s tweets.

In a statement issued in December 2020, Little Brown said: “While there is no legal definition of hate speech in the UK, we believe that Julie’s comments on Islam are not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint, that they crossed a line with regard to race and religion, and that her book has now become inextricably linked with those views.”

Ms Burchill’s lawyers have been contacted for comment.