“If you’re wearing orange, you’re not welcome here. Only joking!”
A UNIONIST MP in the north has called on the US vice president Joe Biden to apologise for a remark made at a St Patrick’s Day meeting with Enda Kenny.
Biden made the off-the-cuff remark about people wearing orange not being welcome at a meeting with an Irish delegation at his residence yesterday.
The remark has angered William McCrea, DUP MP for South Antrim, who called on Biden to apologise.
“I appreciate the Vice President later said his ‘orange’ remark was a joke. I don’t see it as humorous in the manner it was said. When Northern Ireland is making such an effort to make St Patrick’s Day an inclusive celebration, Joe Biden’s comments were disgraceful and careless.
“Whether they were intended as a joke or not, the comments are a slur on those who would be known as ‘orange’ i.e. Protestants. This term is much wider than anyone who is a member of the Orange Order. It has traditionally been used to define people from the Protestant faith.”
He said that Biden “should apologise for his remarks”.
He added that Biden should “take corrective action to prove in a practical way that people who are from a Protestant background are welcome in the White House”.
“Undoubtedly if he had made such a remark about any other faith group there would be calls for his resignation.”
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