Loose Women star Coleen Nolan has sparked controversy after she appeared to compare the fight for gay rights with Islamic State.
The hosts of the ITV show were discussing the case in which the Christian owners of a bakery were found to have discriminated against a gay man when they refused to make a cake carrying a slogan that promoted same-sex marriage.
Coleen provoked controversy when she said on Loose Women: “If you went in somewhere and they said two days later ‘we don’t want to make your cake because of our beliefs’ you’d just never go back to that shop and tell all your friends to boycott it.
“What if somebody walked in and said ‘I want a cake with Islamic State on it and how I support it and how I support them killing our people’ and because it’s a business would they have to make that?”
Some viewers called for her to be sacked.
@loosewomen @NolanColeen absolute disgrace and should be sacked. Comparing gay people to ISIS… very damaging comparison. Unacceptable.
— British Guy (@BRITGREEN999) May 20, 2015
I want to live in a world where campaigning against discrimination does not leave us compared to ISIS. Yes? @NolanColeen @ITV @loosewomen
— Alun Saunders (@alunsaunders) May 20, 2015
@NolanColeen supporting ISIS would be inciting violence & a hate crime- both are illegal. Supporting gay rights are neither. Flawed Argument
— Paul Usher (@PaulUsher) May 19, 2015
Yes @ITV I think you should SACK @NolanColeen for her outrageous comments on yesterday's #loosewomen
— lee (@leeande5) May 20, 2015
Coleen Nolan shouldn't be allowed to work on TV again. She has a large audience and believes gay rights and ISIS are one in the same?
— elliot (@elyacht) May 19, 2015
Others said that her point was more nuanced.
Coleen Nolan wasn't comparing the gay community to ISIS, she was making the point that its unfair to force people to betray their beliefs >
— ๖ۣۜMatt Brittain (@Mttzh) May 20, 2015
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