Lord Kilclooney has finally deleted the tweet where he called Ireland's Indian-origin prime minister Leo Varadkar a "typical Indian" and admitted it was a mistake.
Lord Kilclooney said he could "understand people reaching the conclusion the tweet was racist," reported BBC. "And that's why I removed it. I am certainly not racist at all. And that why I am so pleased the indian chairman of our organisation in London thanked for the work I have done for the Indian community."
Although he did not apologise, Lord Kilclooney admitted the remark was a mistake. "A lot of people have sent messages congratulating me on what I have tweeted. You've got to see both sides of the argument. And when I realise I have made a mistake I remove it."
Lord Kilclooney sparked racism row on Twitter while reacting to Varadkar's visit to Northern Ireland. He wrote the "typical Indian" comment in response to a report that quoted Democratic Unionist Party MP Jeffrey Donaldson as saying that Varadkar’s visit was “outside of normal protocol” and showed “poor manners.”
The tweet was criticised by many as being racist, with Democratic Unionist Party MLA Christopher Stalford tweeting: “I don’t know what John Taylor (Lord Kilclooney) thinks he’s playing at but he doesn’t speak for me. Absolutely ridiculous behaviour.”
Former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt too tweeted that the comment could not be interpreted as anything but racist.
However, Lord Kilclooney denied charges of racism.
“You fail to understand that racially he is half Indian and legally he is Irish. Some day you will learn to know the difference in these terms. The Indians are a great race and I know as a Member of the British/Indian APPG helping Indians almost daily,” he said.
Reacting to the controversy, Varadkar, born to Indian father and an Irish mother, said he initially thought the tweet was from a parody account. He said, “In terms of Lord Kilclooney’s tweet, I did see it. I actually had thought that was a parody account, but seemingly it’s not. It actually is for real, but that’s all I’ll say about that.”
