James: The Media's To Blame For Record Levels Of Hate Crime
15 February 2017, 12:24 | Updated: 15 February 2017, 12:26
The media has played a huge part in the rise of hate crime since Brexit, argues James, but it's not surprising they're trying to get away with it.
Speaking about the shocking levels of hate crimes reported since last summer's referendum result, James says the media has "created a country in which hate crime has broken every single record under the sun this year, since the referendum, since June.
"[The media] created that...The minute you have that 'Breaking Point' poster put up or you allow people into the mainstream conversation complaining about people speaking a foreign language in public, the minute that you normalise that sort of behaviour...then of course the slightly more knuckle-dragging element are going to think that they're allowed to go and punch a bloke on a train because he's black.
"Or scream at a woman in the street and rip her headscarf off because she's a Muslim and tell a Polish person to go home."
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James says he predicted the "lid was going to come off" on hate crime and "knuckle-dragging" racism before the referendum.
"These people who are bubbling away on social media are going to start doing it in public. Of course they are. There'll be graffiti, there'll be phlegm in the street, there'll be comments and spits and words.
"And then it happened. Overnight. Jo Cox was dead before the vote was cast. It happened."
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Impersonating someone shooting down the huge rise in reported hate crimes, James said: "I think it's been reported wrongly! I think there's a perception of hatred that's been gathering pace. I think remainers have created an environment in which these things get reported more...yeah, of course you do."
