Jeremy Vine is under heavy fire for ‘joking’ about Jeremy Corbyn getting assaulted

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On 1 April, Jeremy Vine stood accused of trivialising a recent assault on Jeremy Corbyn.

“Attack on our democratic process”

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot sentenced culprit John Murphy to 28 days in prison on 25 March for assaulting Corbyn. She said:

An attack like this is an attack on our democratic process. This is a public servant and attacks on MPs must stop. The message must go out – this must stop.

CCTV footage shows Murphy hitting Corbyn on the side of the head while holding an egg at Finsbury Park mosque and Muslim Welfare House:

The Channel 5 show made a joke out of the situation:

Someone on the programme jokingly claimed that co-host Storm Huntley should be arrested for cracking the egg on Vine’s head.

There was an MP who was murdered

But on social media, people were not impressed. They noted that a far-right terrorist murdered Labour MP Jo Cox on 16 June 2016 and that another terrorist wanted to kill Labour leader Corbyn:

In response, Vine denied he ‘minimised’ the assault:

Elsewhere, prosecutor Kevin Christie said of the case:

The male was repeatedly shouting ‘respect the vote’ while being restrained by staff. Mr Corbyn described… the male with his face contorted in anger. He appeared to be acting in a very aggressive manner after striking him.

It’s concerning that a violent man was able to get close enough to Corbyn to hit him over the head with an egg. And it seems deeply irresponsible for the Jeremy Vine show to make light of an attack on the leader of the opposition.

Featured image via Jeremy Vine on 5/ YouTube

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