GB News invites guest who denied Holocaust on to show to discuss population decline
Peter Imanuelsen - who appeared the presenter Neil Oliver's show - had previously tweeted that the Holocaust was 'a lie" before claiming he 'strongly regrets' holding such a view
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Television channel GB News has sparked anger after giving a platform to a right-wing activist who once tweeted:”I believe the Holocaust is lie.”
Free speech advocate Peter Imanuelsen was interviewed by presenter Neil Oliver during his two-hour long Saturday night show, who described his guest as a “journalist and political commentator”.
He appeared on the August 27th episode to discuss population decline in the West, with claims made by both Oliver and Imanuelsen the Covid vaccines could have impacted on birthrates.
In 2017 Imanuelsen was revealed to have been responsible for tweets under the name of Peter Sweden, who regularly made extremist allegations about “Jews” “globalists” the “NWO” (new world order) and the Shoah.
GB News tweeted a clip of the interview with Imanuelsen but later deleted the clip of the show after anger mounted over the decision to invite the guest onto the show grew on social media.
Responding to the decision by the channel to interview Imanuelsen, the historian and BBC presenter Simon Schama tweeted:”This is utterly horrifying – neo- Nazi and Holocaust denier – GB news must apologise; who booked this abhorrent antisemite ?”
Daniel Sugarman, the Board of Deputies director of public affairs, tweeted:”14 months ago, GB News launched stating it intended to ‘give a voice to those who feel sidelined’.
“I don’t know about you, but personally I feel that those with a history of Holocaust Denial should very much continue to feel sidelined, rather than have GB News give them a voice.”
The anti-racism charity HOPE Not Hate revealed the identity of the Peter Sweden Twitter account in 2017.
Confirming he had posted under the name Imanuelsen claimed is views ” are very different and I strongly regret things I have said when I was young.”
In another tweet, in which he attempted to win support from a pro-Israel group in Norway, he claimed the Holocaust tweets were smears from the “far-left.”
But just one year earlier his tweets included claims:”I don’t like fascism but I think Hitler had some good points. I am pretty certain that the holocaust never actually happened.”
In August 2016 he wrote:”I believe the Holocaust is a lie to further the agenda of the NWO.”
In May he tweeted:”The claim that 6 million jews were gassed seems highly unprobable. The concentration camps didnt have the facilities for that.”
In October that year he added:”The globalists (mainly Jews) are the ones bringing Muslims into Europe.”
He also tweeted “Judaism is the antichrist religion” and claimed the antisemitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was “the Jews own text on Jewish supremism.”
Imanuelsen, whose family moved to the UK in 2004 from Sweden, was also photographed at an anti-immigration event in Sicily with far-right activist Katie Hopkins.
Born in Norway, he has built up a large following on social media channels such as You Tube, where he airs his often extreme views.
Marie Van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies, said at the time: “It was distressing to see Katie Hopkins posing for a photo with a Holocaust denier, as part of her trip to support the ‘Defend Europe’ campaign.”
Imanuelsen then said he believed the Holocaust did happen and that it was a “horrific crime”.
A GB News spokesperson said on Sunday:”We’ve been made aware that Peter Sweden, also known as Peter Imanuelsen, who appeared on GB News yesterday to talk about falling birth rates, has been accused of being a holocaust denier.
“As a result of this information, we have removed clips of Mr Sweden’s interview from our website and our social media channels while we investigate.
“GB News abhors antisemitism and all other forms of racism.”
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