After Hopkins wrote in The Sun that she didn’t care about desperate migrants dying as they try to cross the Mediterranean, many reacted with outrage.
Just to refresh your memory, Hopkins wrote: ‘No, I don’t care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care.’
‘No, I don’t care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care.’
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Hopkins added: ‘Make no mistake, these migrants are like cockroaches. They might look a bit ‘Bob Geldof Ethiopia circa 1984,’ but they are built to survive a nuclear bomb.’
Pretty nasty, eh?
But while many people slammed Hopkins' comments, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has pointed out something darker in Katie's article: That cockroaches is the exact term used by both the Nazis and those behind the Rwandan genocide.
Not only does this make Hopkins’ comments especially insensitive, it could also be argued that they are inciting racial hatred, and the UN are now calling on the situation to be formally investigated.
‘This type of language is clearly inflammatory and unacceptable, especially in a national newspaper,’ Al Hussein said.
‘If it is found in breach of the law - [The Sun] should be held responsible along with the author.’
Far from taking Hopkins' comments lightly, the UN worker added: ‘History has shown us time and again the dangers of demonising foreigners and minorities.’
Earlier in the week it was revealed a petition is circulating to get Hopkins removed from The Sun after her piece was published.