IRISH OLYMPIAN HERO KELLIE HARRINGTON has responded to a viral clip where she was asked questions about her views on immigration.
Harrington, who is one of Ireland's best female boxers retweeted a clip from English news station GB News in October.
The retweet involved a GB News contributor speaking about the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Paris by an immigrant.
The Portland row native quoted tweeted the clip with a comment, but has since removed the tweet because of the backlash online.
On Monday Harrington who is a SPAR Ireland Brand Ambassador appeared on a press call on OTB AM.
The interview topics to begin with started with everything boxing, but as the interview went towards the question of the deleted tweet from October came up.
Harrington became irked by the line of questioning and believed the interviewer was looking to 'hang her out to dry'
The interview continued in this vein and eventually it ended with the boxer refusing to answer the question put to her.
Kellie Harrington discussed her deleted tweet on immigration on #OTBAM. pic.twitter.com/tfwsrlTmrj — Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 27, 2023
The clip of the interview went viral soon after. Many people defended the Dubliner, while others slammed her for refusing to back up her views.
Today Harrington has issued a statement in response to the interview.
"Last October, I reposted a tweet of a video from a journalist [whom I did not know at the time] detailing the story of a young girl from France who was kidnapped and murdered," said the boxer.
"Moved by the horrific circumstances of this story, I reposted a video of this journalist together with a copy of my quote. My thoughts at that moment were of that young girl and not any political opinion.
"Having realised the significance of my tweet and the hurt caused to a number of people, I immediately deleted the tweet.
"I engaged privately with a number of people who were hurt by my tweet, and I apologised to them.
"As a sporting role model, I am aware that I need to be mindful of what I do and say. I reacted with my emotions and without the facts. How this came across is not reflective of me as a person or my thoughts."
The 33-year-old then went onto say that she did not want to get involved in political issues.
"I do not want to engage in politically sensitive matters," added the Dubliner.
"What I want to make clear is, through my life in boxing and inside boxing, I have been lucky to have had many multicultural influences and this continues to shape me to this day.
"That is something that shapes me as the person I am today and something I am very grateful for.
"The people closest to me will attest to this. Since the interview, I have seen some comments that I feel I should address and make my feelings and thoughts clear.
"As a sportswoman, I am proud to say I am all about community, inclusion and diversity."
A statement following my interview earlier with OTB pic.twitter.com/FGuO3w7Wwe — Kellie Harrington (@Kelly64kg) March 27, 2023
