SASKATOON – The fallout continues in the wake of radio host John Gormley’s controversial tweet during the Paris attacks in November. The tweet reads:
“Me: Next guy in a western democracy who chants ‘Allah Ahkbar’ we shoot. Wife: Don’t be this way. #Angry”
The tweet has since been deleted, and Gormley offered an apology during his show.
“It was a dumb thing to say. I mean, you shouldn’t counsel shooting people. So, I clearly apologize if I offended anybody,” Gormley said.
More than 20 local artists are pressing for his removal from the board of the Remai Art Gallery. In a letter to the city, they write “His comments have offended many people in our community. They are divisive and ignorant… this particular rant has gone too far.”
The board discussed their request this week and decided that for now, Gormley will keep this position.
Still, it was a shock to some. Gormley is a well-known lawyer who also teaches at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law. The tweet prompted a group of professors to issue a letter distancing themselves from his remarks.
“Clearly this is offensive and repugnant and it ought not to have been said,” said law professor Ken Norman.
READ MORE: Law professors post open letter over Gormley tweet
Norman said he considered the remark racist, but it was not hate speech under the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. According to the professor, in order to classify as a human rights violation, it would have had to have been said wilfully, without retraction, and it would have also had to put a population of people at immediate risk of harm.
A spokesperson for Saskatoon’s Muslim community said he accepted Gormley’s apology. Nonetheless, they found his behaviour concerning.
“We need to step up our game and we need to bring him in, talk to him, and tell him that what he said is not right,” said Noman Hassan, the media spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The words “Allahu Ahkbar” are often said several times during a prayer and mean “God is great.”
Gormley’s reaction was not alone, however. Response in other parts of the country was much stronger. In Peterborough, a mosque was set on fire. In Toronto, a Muslim woman was attacked outside a school. And a man in Montreal posted a video of himself saying he’d kill one Arab per week.
Political science professor Charles Smith said there is no basis for such stereotyping, even though it may be tempting for some to do so.
“I think that terrorism is a complex sociological phenomenon, it happens for various reasons in all parts of the world,” Smith said. “There isn’t one group or one religion that’s susceptible to these things, so I think we need to be really careful before we cast judgment on whole groups of people.”
Gormley has not commented on his tweet aside from his apology. Global News reached out to him several times during the course of this story. He did not respond to our requests for an interview.
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