Skinner said he doesn’t like how social media is about ‘dividing people’, yet has made divisive comments online
Reform member Thomas Skinner has been accused of hypocrisy after he claimed on BBC Question Time that he dislikes how ‘divisive’ social media is.
On last night’s show in Clacton, the millionaire businessman said: “What I don’t like about social media is it’s always about dividing people.”
He added: “It’s always about people screaming and shouting if you don’t agree with me, with what I stand for, if you don’t agree with my politics, ‘I hate you. You’re a gammon or you’re a snowflake’.”
Skinner then said: “I try and spread a bit of positivity and a bit of love, do you know what I mean?”.
One X user pointed out that last month, Skinner had responded to a post from the Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, with an insult.
Polanski wrote about a campaign video the Green Party put out before the Gorton and Denton by-election, saying: “The right wing trolls hated seeing our campaign video in Urdu.
“So here it is in Bangla instead.
“I love our party!”
Skinner responded to the post, stating: “Zach. Put it in any language you want. You’re still a massive bell end who ain’t got a clue about the real world. Bosh.”
The X user said: “Well well well Mr Skinner. Here you are calling someone a bell end for not agreeing with your politics.
“The hypocrisy. It’s absolutely sickening. Just straight lies.”
In another exchange with BBC Question Time host Fiona Bruce, Skinner, who has over 500,000 TikTok followers was grilled over how he is benefiting from the “addictive algorithms” that push people towards his content.
Skinner regularly posts videos on TikTok, including clips of him eating full English breakfasts at his favourite café. He told Question Time he also makes money by promoting products on Instagram, TikTok and other apps.
Bruce questioned how Skinner could say social media and scrolling is “bad”, especially for children, while making money out it.
Bruce asked: “How can you on the one hand say ‘people shouldn’t be doing it so much’ but, on the other hand, you are benefiting from it?”.
BBC Question Time has come in for criticism for not making clear that Skinner is a signed-up member of Reform.
In a separate post on social media, Skinner said he wasn’t representing any political party on Question Time last night, and that he had gone on the show because they pay guests £2,000.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.