'You're a racist if you define sex offenders by ethnicity'
International journalist and political commentator Mehdi Hasan has criticized the hypocrisy and selective focus on grooming gangs in the UK while pointing out the tendency to overlook similar crimes committed by other ethnic groups, especially whites.
In a fiery exchange on Piers Morgan Uncensored this week, Mehdi Hasan left the host speechless after challenging him on Elon Musk's controversial remarks.
The debate took a dramatic turn as Mehdi questionned the focus of media on so-called 'high profile cases' to further a political agenda of making this conversation racially motivated.
Mehdi didn't stop there and bougth forth the little-discussed cases of white grooming gangs in the UK. He cited multiple incidents, including one in Glasgow in 2023 where a group of white men abused three children.
He went on to mention the West Midlands, where a decade of child sex crimes by 21 white perpetrators was uncovered, and a case in Cornwall from 2010, where six men abused 30 girls.
The heated argument unfolded when Piers Morgan attempted to shift the focus to the racial makeup of the perpetrators involved in grooming gangs. Piers, in response to Mehdi lisiting not so mainstream cases, clearly states that 'these aren't the scandals we are talking about,' to which Mehdi replies 'and you have just made my point for me. These arent the scandals we are talking about. Why?'
"Why are we defining child sex crimes and grooming gangs by race, unless you're a racist or trying to make political hay out of this?" Mehdi shot back at Morgan, questioning the motives behind such a divisive focus. “If you’re only obsessed with the perpetrators, like Elon Musk and Robert Jenrick, then you don’t actually care about these girls."
With a calm yet assertive demeanor, Mehdi pointed out the hypocrisy of only highlighting crimes committed by certain groups, while ignoring others.
He argued that this selective outrage only served to further a political agenda, rather than addressing the real issue: the protection of vulnerable victims.
Piers, visibly taken aback, struggled to respond. “You’re trying to deflect,” he stammered, but Mehdi quickly shut down his counterargument, emphasizing that the real concern should be the victims, not the racial identity of the perpetrators.
"If you only care about the perpetrators, you're missing the point," Mehdi pressed. "I care about the victims of all crimes, whether the perpetrator is brown, black, white, or any other color."
A 2020 UK Home Office report had earlier challenged the narrative that grooming gangs are predominantly made up of men of Pakistani origin.
The report highlighted that, while high-profile cases in towns like Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford have involved gangs of mostly Pakistani ethnicity, most child sexual abuse gangs in the UK are composed of white men under the age of 30.
The paper stressed that there was no conclusive evidence that grooming gangs are disproportionately made up of Asian offenders.
This research contradicted previous statements from far-right politicians like former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who has repeatedly portrayed grooming gangs as a problem rooted in British-Pakistani communities with different "cultural values."
Braverman’s comments were criticised by child protection experts who argue that such divisive and racially charged narratives undermine efforts to tackle the crime and potentially make children less safe.
Experts have warned against the spread of “misinformation, racism, and division” in the context of grooming gangs.
Earlier this week, Elon Musk endorsed an anti-Pakistan narrative peddled by an Indian lawmaker linked to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a party documented to have sought inspiration from Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.
RSS lawmaker Priyanka Chaturvedi sparked the controversy by stating that the blame for grooming gangs in the UK should not be attributed to Asia as a whole, but rather to "one rogue nation"—Pakistan.