In an interview with The Times, the Ryanair CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Michael O’ Leary has said that Muslim men should be profiled at airports as terrorists will generally be from a “Muslim persuasion.” His comments came a day after a female Radical Islamist, Safiyya Amira Shaikh, conspired to bomb St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
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Acknowledging that he might be accused of racism, Michael O’Leary said, “You can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish.”
O’Leary added, “They are going to be single males travelling on their own… If you are travelling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero. If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat.” He added that 30 years before, the bombers used to be of Irish descent.
In the interview, O’Leary said that airport security is “utterly useless”, and added that this was done by politicians to give the impression that they were doing something to protect the public.
He also mocked transgender people in the interview, saying “I’m male today and I’ll be female tomorrow”.
As expected, the comment has attracted widespread criticism and the Ryanair CEO has been accused of “racism” and “Islamophobia” for his comments.
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said, “If he can tell me what colour Muslims are, then I’d be very happy to learn from him – you can’t judge a book by its cover. In Germany this week a white person killed eight people. Should we profile white people to see if they’re being fascists? He’s being very blinkered and is actually encouraging racism.”
The Muslim Council of Britain said the Leary’s statements reflect “racism” and “brazen discrimination.” The said that this is the very definition of Islamophobia.
Michael O’ Leary is known for his controversial comments. Earlier, he had described environmentalists as “lying wankers”. He had said, “the best thing you can do with environmentalists is shoot them.”