Katie Hopkins has sparked major outrage after suggesting the gorilla that was shot after a four-year-old child fell into its enclosure ‘could have done humanity a favour’.
The 17-year-old male silverback was shot dead on Saturday after it was seen dragging the child around the enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo – even though new footage suggests the gorilla was trying to protect the boy.
When videos of the incident emerged online, social media users heavily criticised the young boy’s parents – Michelle Gregg and Deonne Dickerson – and they were blamed for not keeping a closer eye on their child, ultimately resulting in the death of an endangered animal.
YouTubeWhile the Internet was quick to blame the parents, hate-filled Hopkins has gone one step further and insisted that the gorilla ‘could have done humanity a favour’ if he wasn’t shot.
Her comment is being interpreted by Twitter users as she would have liked to see the gorilla kill the boy as she does not agree with his parents’ parenting skills.
Having seen the state of the parents who let their son in a gorilla pen, #Harambe could have done mankind a favour..if we hadn't shot him.
— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) June 1, 2016
She took to Twitter this morning to say: “Having seen the state of the parents who let their son in a gorilla pen, #Harambe could have done mankind a favour.. if we hadn’t shot him.”
But, despite the original criticism towards the parents, social media users are hitting back hard at Hopkins:
[tweet https://twitter.com/https://twitter.com/News_Katy/status/737919378117799936/ conversation=”false”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/SandraBalmer/status/737932252693270528/ conversation=”false”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/leeneal321/status/737936823184461824/ conversation=”false”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Sn1Sean/status/737955275823558656/ conversation=”false”]
Worryingly, some agreed with Katie – although we think (and hope) that they missed her point about suggesting the boy should have died:
[tweet https://twitter.com/JudyAnnKnight/status/737919798730993664/ conversation=”false”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/janeiwc/status/737946221910855681/ conversation=”false”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/poolerboy1975/status/737920391994322944/ conversation=”false”]
While it’s twisted and sick to suggest that a child should die because of their parents, the mother and father’s parenting hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Yesterday, City of Cincinnati Police confirmed for the first time in an official statement that the parents of the boy, Isaiah Dickerson, could be prosecuted over the incident, the BBC reports.
It’s easy to blame parents in a situation like this, but to advocate the death of a young child is absolutely sickening.
Azealia Banks was banned from Twitter for issuing racist remarks, so shouldn’t suggesting the death of a toddler would ‘have done humanity a favour’ be seen as sickening enough to ban Hopkins from Twitter too?
