Sky News orders review after guest unleashes anti-Islam rant, wears bacon on-air

Sky News is reviewing its new Sunday night program Freya Fires Up, hosted by Freya Leach, after removing an interview with a guest who appeared with bacon draped over his shirt and told the host it was to “protect him” from terrorists, as he made further Islamophobic comments before being cut off.

While the interview on Sunday evening was removed from the full episode uploaded onto Sky’s online platform, guest Ryan Williams reposted his appearance on Instagram. The post has since been liked 90,000 times.

Williams’ social media accounts feature multiple videos of him wearing bacon across his chest. He asks followers online to donate to his cause of inflicting “maximum damage on Islam” and keeping “Europe Christian at all costs”.

Leach introduced Williams as a “social media sensation” and a conservative political strategist. She later made a brief on-air apology for the interview.

“The reason I’ve got bacon on my shoulders is because the terrorists are a charming lot, and they threaten to behead me every single day, so a little bit of protection,” Williams said appearing to laugh.

Online, Williams lists his “real job” as a cellist and trance music producer to his 243,000 Instagram followers.

During his Sky appearance, he said the UK faced the threat of Islamic invasion every day, and wrongly said that Britain’s second-biggest city, Birmingham, has a Muslim majority. According to the 2021 census, 34 per cent of Birmingham residents identify as Christian, while 29.9 per cent identify as Muslim.

After Williams made a series of anti-Islam remarks, Leach said: “It’s important to preface that the majority of Muslims don’t support that. We have seen here in Australia at least we’ve got some great moderate Muslims, but I think it’s up to them to condemn the elements of the culture or religion that are more extreme.” The host then moved on to the other guest on the program, conservative strategist Joey Mannarino.

Leach later said: “I’ve just been told we have to apologise for what was just aired, those comments earlier.” Williams’ appearance was pulled from the broadcast.

A Sky spokesperson told this masthead the broadcaster apologised unreservedly for the offensive comments made by Williams on Sunday.

“These remarks were wholly inappropriate and unacceptable and have no place on our network. The guest responsible should never have appeared,” the spokesperson said.

“He was specifically asked for his reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination and its fallout, but instead used our platform to spread his harmful views.

“We recognise the harm such rhetoric can cause and take full responsibility for this failure in our editorial processes.”

The spokesperson said Sky has begun an immediate review of Leach’s program including its guest booking and vetting procedures to prevent a similar incident occurring again.

Jamal Rifi, a GP and Muslim community leader in Sydney, called Williams’ remarks “terrible opinion and awful, disgusting and contradictory comments”.

After Williams’ rant referenced the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood being Muslim, Rifi said: “It shows modern-day British Muslims are contributing to public life by holding public offices and engaging in democratic political activities.”

Leach, 22, is an online conservative personality and director of youth policy at the right-leaning think tank the Menzies Research Centre. She was given her own Sunday evening opinion program on Sky News last month, and it airs at 6pm. She has been a part of the presenting team of Sky’s mid-week program The Late Debate, which airs at 10pm from Monday to Thursday, since earlier this year.

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