Columnist Issues Humiliating Retraction and Apology For Tweets Defaming Journalist as Pedophile-Worshipper

Julie Burchill

Julie Burchill, a columnist for the UK’s Sunday Telegraph, posted a lengthy and fairly humiliating retraction letter after smearing a fellow journalist as a pedophile-worshipping Islamist.

Burchill’s comments, which prompted a libel and harassment lawsuit, were leveled against journalist and activist Ash Sarkar in December. The suit was successful, and forced Burchill to issue a retraction, pay “substantial damagers” to Sarkar, and cover her legal costs.

“I alleged that Ms Sarkar worshipped the Prophet Muhammad, that she worshipped a paedophile (referring to the Prophet Muhammad), that she was an Islamist, and that she was a hypocrite,” Burchill wrote. “Although it was not my intention, I accept that my statements were defamatory of Ms Sarkar and caused her very substantial distress.”

On 13 December 2020 I made defamatory statements about @AyoCaesar, which I sincerely regret and retract and have undertaken not to repeat. I have agreed to pay substantial damages to Ash Sarkar and her legal costs. Here is my full and wholehearted apology. Please retweet pic.twitter.com/tc2aUKbCOK

— Julie Burchill (@BoozeAndFagz) March 16, 2021

Burchill lashed out at Sarkar in December after the latter criticized the journalist Rod Liddle for writing in The Spectator in 2012 that the one thing stopping him from becoming a teacher was that he “could not remotely conceive of not trying to shag the kids.”

In response, Burchill accused Sarkar, who is Muslim, of “worshipping a paedophile.” Burchill had her book deal canceled by her publisher, but the bizarre attacks didn’t stop there, according to the Guardian:

Burchill also posted a series of further comments about Sarkar, claiming that she was an Islamist, a terrorist sympathiser, and speculating about her sex life.

As well as directing her Facebook followers to “wade in on Twitter” against “the Islamists” and “nonces”, she wrote a crude poem about Sarkar that featured a description of “a gender fluid threesome with Marine Le Pen”. She also “liked” posts saying that Sarkar should kill herself and suggesting that she was a victim of female genital mutilation.

In a piece for the Guardian responding to the decision, Sarkar wrote that she faced a avalanche of online abuse after Burchill’s comments:

What followed was a barrage of abuse on social media and by email. People speculated about whether I was really a woman, and really a Muslim – and I was subjected to rape threats and threats of physical violence. I received direct messages on Instagram calling me a “dirty brown whore”, and fantasising about me being raped in “an all white gangbang”. The intensity of the abuse, along with Burchill’s continuing derogatory posts about me, severely affected my mental health. I couldn’t sleep, and had bouts of trembling and heart palpitations. For the first time in my life, I was prescribed anti-anxiety medication.

Read the rest of Burchill’s statement below:

I wish to make clear on the record that I do not believe, have never believed and never intended to make any allegation that Ms Sarkar is a promoter, supporter and/or sympathiser of Islamists or fundamentalist terrorism or to suggest that Ms Sarkar condones paedophilia in any way. I also now understand that it is blasphemy for a Muslim to worship Prophet Muhammad and I had no basis for stating that Ms Sarkar does so. I accept that there is no truth in any of these allegations, and I recognise that such comments play into Islamophobic tropes and did so in this case.

I also accept that I was wrong to continue to tweet to and about her after that date. I should not have sent these tweets, some of which included racist and misogynist comments regarding Ms Sarkar’s appearance and her sex life. I was also wrong to have “liked” other posts on Facebook and Twitter about her which were offensive, including one which called for her to kill herself, and another which speculated whether she had been a victim of FGM. I regret that I did not pay much attention to them at the time. On reflection, I accept that these ‘liked’ posts included callous and degrading comments about Ms Sarkar and I should not have liked them.I can confirm that I have deleted all my posts and tweets and likes about Ms Sarkar.

I have also now seen messages that were sent to Ms Sarkar following my posts about her which are abhorrent, and I wish to make clear that I do not condone any such messages. I did not know when I published my posts that Ms Sarkar had previously received death threats and other violent threats and abuse, some of which emanated from a far-right conspiracy theory circulated about Ms Sarkar during summer 2020, of which I had not been aware.
I deeply regret having reacted in the way I did. I accept that I should have behaved better. On reflection, I accept that I misjudged the situation, and made statements that simply are not true, which I now want to put right. I also wish to make clear that I accept that Ms Sarkar did not call for my publisher to break ties with me and bears no responsibility for this.

I unreservedly and unconditionally apologise for the hurtful and unacceptable statements I made to and about Ms Sarkar, particularly those concerning her religion and Prophet Muhammad. I have undertaken not to repeat the allegations or any similar allegations about her, undertaken not to engage in any course of conduct amounting to harassment of Ms Sarkar, and undertaken not to contact her directly other than for legal reasons.

I have also agreed to pay substantial damages to Ms Sarkar for the distress I caused and her legal costs.