SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middeton apologises for comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to EDL

TV personality insisted he was ‘anti-racist’ in apology video

SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton has apologised for calling Black Lives Matter protesters “scum” and comparing them to the English Defence League.

In since deleted tweets shared as far-right groups violently clashed with anti-racism protesters and police in London over the weekend, Middleton branded both “extreme groups” as “thugs”.

“The extreme left against the extreme right,” he wrote. “When did two wrongs make a right.”

He continued: “It was only a matter of time. BLM and EDL are not welcome on our streets, absolute scum. What a great example you are to your future generation. Bravo.”

Middleton’s comments were met with backlash from Black Lives Matter supporters, who insisted that it was offensive and harmful to compare anti-racism protesters with a far-right group.

In response, the soldier shared a video to Twitter on Monday (15 June) insisting that he was not racist, explaining: “I’d just like to clarify a tweet I’d put out at the weekend and deleted straight away once I’d re-read it and realised that it could cause offence.

“Within that tweet I mentioned the BLM and EDL and the word ‘scum’, he explained: “At no point was I calling the BLM scum and comparing the two organisations. I want to make that really, really clear.

“The word scum was used to describe the people in the video that were violent, that were causing terror on the streets of London and setting a bad example for our future generations. I was angry and put that tweet out to say that that was unacceptable.”

Middleton continued: “For those of you who know me, I am a people’s person, I love people, I’m anti-racist and I’m anti-violence having seen what violence does to people and cities and countries. So I apologise if my tweet came across as offensive, I never meant for that. I’m here to push positive change.”

In April, the TV personality came under fire for saying that he was still “travelling the world” and “shaking hands” amid the coronavirus crisis.