The Mayo content creator shared his views on immigration
Garron Noone has deactivated his social media account after facing backlash on his video discussing immigration.
The Mayo comedian and singer, who has over 1.7million followers on TikTok, has sparked controversy online.
This comes after he shared his thoughts on Conor McGregor’s trip to the White House, where he declared Ireland has an immigration issue.
The 36-year-old, who was found to have raped a woman following a civil case last November, was invited to the White House to mark St Patrick’s Day.
In the clip, Garron explains that he is constantly asked for political opinions, particularly after McGregor’s Washington visit.
He added that while he doesn’t support McGregor, the former UFC fighter’s stance on immigration resonated with people around Ireland.
“There absolutely is an immigration issue in Ireland,” said Noone.
“That doesn’t mean that people feel like we shouldn’t take the refugees that we’re able to take. It doesn’t mean that people feel like people shouldn’t be able to come here for better opportunities.”
He added that the ‘systems that we have in place are being taken advantage of’ and ‘the government continually does not allow people to express their concerns about that’.
The Mayo man continued to say that Ireland’s towns and cities are becoming ‘much less safe’, but said this is ‘not just because of immigration’.
“There’s a lot of factors to that, but if you can’t see that that’s happening, then you have not left your house.
“Communities all over Ireland are concerned, and their concerns are continuously not being heard. And when you continuously suppress what people are feeling, you turn them towards more extreme beliefs,” he added.
Following the spread of the videos, he took to Instagram to clarify the remarks, saying that immigration needs to be discussed openly and rebutted far-right or anti-immigration claims.
“To say that there are no concerns as immigration increases, to say that things haven’t been mishandled, and to say that people should not be able to express how they feel about those things, their concerns about those things, I just don’t think that does any good,” he stated.
He continued to say that while more extreme beliefs are ‘not something that we want’, ‘we need to hear people out’.
Noone has now appeared to delete both his Instagram and TikTok accounts, as error messages appear when searching for his account.
The Internet reacts
The controversy following Noone’s video has split opinion online, with some people showing sympathy towards him, while others have heavily criticised what he said.
One X user wrote: “Garron Noone has done nothing wrong. Actually comprehend what he said & you’ll see for yourself.”
Somebody else said: “Garron Noone is just as entitled to his opinion as you and I are. He was pushed to share his opinion and got bullied for it. Social media was his way of living. I hope he has the right support around him at this time.”
Another supporter wrote: “Garron Noone is an ordinary person. People pushed for his point of view and he shared it. The more you demonise public debate, the more isolated you’re making your argument and the support for it. I hope for all your sakes that he has the right support around him tonight.”
Those more critical of him said: “Garron Noone being one of those I’m not racist for having real concerns types is honestly devastating and not one bit delicious. If you’re not educated properly on a topic maybe don’t talk about it.”
Someone else said: “In reality there is no excuse for someone with such a high profile being so uninformed on something so important.”
