Katie Hopkins: 7 times LBC should have fired the ex-Apprentice contestant

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LBC has finally — finally — parted ways with Katie Hopkins following a controversial Tweet concerning the Manchester attacks that called for “a final solution”.

The message, which was quickly deleted from social media, echoed the Nazi term for the Holocaust and was widely condemned, even being reported to the Metropolitan Police.

Many people are questioning why the radio station took so long to part ways with Hopkins (others have questioned free speech), the ex-presenter having courted controversy on numerous occasions. Here are seven other times Hopkins has angered the Internet.

Back in March, Hopkins ignited a particularly fierce backlash after claiming Adam Johnson is not a paedophile and does not deserve a prison sentence for sexual activity with a 15-year-old schoolgirl. The disgraced footballer pleaded guilty to counts of grooming and sexual activity with a child, and was found guilty at trial of one more serious count of sexual activity with a child.

On Twitter, Hopkins wrote: “A child? YOU ARE KIDDING ME? Looking to impress her mates by snagging a footballer. Hey presto. From sl*g to wag.” She elaborated in a Mail Online column, saying the victim knew “exactly what she was doing” and questioned whether the age of sexual consent should be defined by one number.

Following an explosion at a Brussels Airport and a metro station that claimed over 30 lives, the Mail Online columnist claimed refugee policy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel were responsible for the terrorist attacks.

She wrote on Twitter: “Next time you hear someone say we are safer IN the EU - remember Brussels. Seen as the heart of Europe, it is now jihadi central. How can you separate the human from the political. Merkel - and her ilk- blew up Brussels.”

A Tweet in reply reading “you do NOT get to speak for our city. Refugees are welcome, you are welcome to stay out” was shared thousands of times.

After five bodies were discovered on Camber Sands beach, Hopkins conducted a poll on Twitter mocking the possible identities of five men whose bodies were pulled from the sea at Camber Sands beach.

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“5 dead at Camber Sands were”, the Tweet read, inviting her followers to cast votes out of four options: “Aspiring footballers, mentally ill, fans of Anders Brevik or big fans of inflatables”.

The Tweet was reported to Sussex Police who wrote “incredibly insensitive, although not criminal. We suggest reporting her to Twitter. We have already.”

A year to the day since three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body was discovered washed up on a Turkish beach, Hopkins Tweeted a picture of his father alongside the comment “Lectured on caring for migrants by a man who left his wife and child at the bottom of the Med? No thank you Mr Kurdi.”

The father had spoken to the media on the anniversary of his son's death. The image of the young refugee made headlines across the world and became an iconic image of the refugee crisis in which thousands of people have died.

In a column for The Daily Mail, Hopkins suggested a Muslim family were extremists with links to Al-Qaeda. She made the accusations about the Mahmood family, who were prevented from boarding a flight to Disneyland.

Hopkins later published an apology to the family, Tweeting out the message at 2AM, many people believing she was attempting to draw as little attention as possible to the message. However, over 12,000 people re-Tweeted the message.

Back in 2015, the former-Apprentice contestant accused Jack Monroe defaced or condoned the damage of a war memorial, leading to death threats.

“Scrawled on any memorials recently?” she wrote in a Tweet aimed at Monroe along with an image of a war memorial in central London vandalised with the words “‘*ck Tory scum’. She continued: “Vandalised the memory of those who fought for your freedom. Grandma got any more medals?”

Hopkins was eventually ordered to pay Monroe £24,000 in damages and £107,000 to cover court costs after a High Court ruling. Justice Warby ruled that she had libelled the food blogger.

Hopkins recently sparked outrage after posting a message on Twitter about the Netflix series Dear White People, writing: “Dear black people. If your lives matter why do you stab and shoot each other so much.” She later deleted the message.