Kerri-Anne Kennerley has come out in support of Sonia Kruger urging her to “stay brave” following an intense public backlash due to her comments over banning Muslim immigration.
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“This is just appalling beyond belief,” Kerri-Anne told Daily Mail in reference to the online trolling Sonia has faced over the past week.
“I think it’s appalling — with freedom of speech — where people have an opinion and everybody else finds the need to slam someone.”
“We are living in a democratic country. We do need people to have varying opinions and it should be treated with respect so therefore everybody should have their freedom of expression.”
WATCH: Sonia’s comment on Today
On a panel discussion on Today, Sonia said there’s a correlation between the number of Muslims in a country and the number of terrorist attacks.
“Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia – because I want to feel safe as all of our citizens do when we go out to celebrate Australia Day,” she said.
While she did note she had a lot of “very good friends” who were Muslims, she said “there are fanatics.”
She noted that Japan has a population of 174 million people and 100, 00 Muslims and they’re yet to suffer a terrorist attack.
Co-host David Campbell disagreed with Sonia, saying freedom of religion and freedom of speech were important.
“We’re talking about immigration, David,” she replied.
“I would venture that if you spoke to the parents of those children killed in Nice, then they would be of the same opinion.”
When asked by Lisa Wilkinson if Sonia would want the borders closed to Muslim migrants, Sonia replied, “Yes, yes I would.”
“For the safety of our citizens here, I think it’s important.”
Video: Waleed Aly: Sonia Kruger isn’t evil
