Loose Women panelist Coleen Nolan causes outrage after appearing to compare gay rights to supporting ISIS

 
Outrage: Coleen Nolan (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)
Ken McKay/ITV/REX
Emma Powell20 May 2015
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Loose Women panelist Coleen Nolan caused outrage on Twitter after appearing to compare supporting gay rights to supporting ISIS.

The former singer, 50, made the comments while discussing the recent court case in Ireland involving Christian-owned Ashers Bakery, who were taken to court and found guilty of discrimination after they refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Nolan shocked viewers by asking whether being asked to make a cake for a gay marriage would mean the bakery would have to agree to make a cake emblazoned with an ISIS slogan.

Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women Nolan said: "At the end of the day, if you went in there and two days later they said ‘we don’t want to make your cakes because of our beliefs’, you’d just never go back to that shop and you’d probably say to all your gay friends, ‘don’t go there, they’re anti-gay,’ and boycott it."

She continued: "What about if somebody walked in and said I want a cake and I want the whole Islamic State on it and how I support it and how I support them killing our people. Because it’s a business do they have to make it? And if they turn around and say they’re not making it, we’d all applaud it."

The comments sparked outrage on Twitter with some users calling for Nolan to publicly apologise while others called for her to be sacked from the day time chat show.

One user wrote: “@NolanColeen Your comment comparing supporting gay rights with ISIS is so offensive, I feel you should issue a public apology.”

Another posted: “I hope you get fired for that @NolanColeen.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/NolanColeen" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-43146-https://twitter.com/NolanColeen" data-vars-event-id="c23">@NolanColeen</a> Your comment comparing supporting gay rights with ISIS is so offensive, I feel you should issue a public apology.— Nathan Taylor (@TheNathanTaylor) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/TheNathanTaylor/status/600637025511993345" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-43146-https://twitter.com/TheNathanTaylor/status/600637025511993345" data-vars-event-id="c23">May 19, 2015</a>

Others slammed her supposed belief that being gay is a choice, writing: "Can someone explain to #coleennolan that being gay isn't a choice but being in a terrorist organisation or a supporter of one is a choice."

Another also wrote: “It is not illegal to be gay. It IS illegal to discriminate. ISIS kill innocent people in sickening ways. Gay people want equality.”

Nolan and ITV have yet to respond.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in