Twitter has a strong message for one Australian TV host — being a parent does not give you a pass to be a bigot.
Sonia Kruger said Monday that the country should close its borders to Muslims.
"Personally, I would like to see it stop now for Australia," she said. I want to feel safe as all of our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day, and I'd like to see freedom of speech."
She was agreeing with a column by the Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt, in which he claimed that the more Muslims immigrate to a country, the higher the risk of terrorism, according to The Guardian.
“There is a correlation between the number of people in a country who are Muslim and the number of terrorist attacks," said Kruger.
The co-host of Australia's "Dancing with the Stars" and "Today Extra" made sure to qualify her comments by saying that she has lots of "peace-loving" Muslim friends, but that many are still extremists.
Her "Today Extra" co-host, David Campbell, was not impressed.
"This sort of article breeds hate," he said in reference to Bolt's column, saying he thought freedom of religion was just as important as freedom of speech.
Today panel moderator Lisa Wilkinson reminded Kruger that her stance puts her in league with Donald Trump, but she didn't seem bothered.
"I think we have something like 500,000 now in our country, and perhaps it is [Trump's stance], but for the safety of the citizens here, I think it is important."
Kruger then opted to bring up the recent attack in France, where 10 children died.
"I would venture that if you spoke to the parents of those children killed in Nice, then they would be of the same opinion."
While ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, it's still unclear whether the perpetrator, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had any connection to the group or even to Islam.
She later stood by her comments in a tweet, being sure to establish that she, too, was a mom.
While we've yet to hear a response from one of those grieving parents, a ton of other mothers opted to weigh in on Twitter with the hashtag #AsAMother, and they did not agree.
Another Australian mom claimed that Kruger's stance had led another child to call hers a terrorist.
But this tweet may have summed up the sentiment the best.
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