A Tory MP has slammed Labour politicians for “politically correct claptrap” and “idiocy” after linking Chef Jamie Oliver’s “jerk” rice to slavery and accusing him and other “white people” of profiting from Black culture.
Clive Lewis (pictured above, left), the hard left representative for Norwich South, backed his Labour colleague Dawn Butler MP (pictured above, right), who slammed celebrity chief Oliver over the weekend for “appropriation” after releasing a Jamaican-inspired “jerk rice” product.
Mr Lewis claimed the UK has “raped, pillaged, enslaved and destroyed” some cultures and said the rice row is part of a “trend that hasn’t stopped since slavery.”
But Tory Philip Davies MP (pictured above, centre) hit back Tuesday, telling Breitbart London: “This politically correct claptrap from Dawn Butler and Clive Lewis is beyond belief, and the type of idiocy we could expect to run riot if [Labour leader Jeremy] Corbyn and [Shadow Home Secretry] Diane Abbott were running the country.
“People can be forgiven for thinking the world has gone mad.”
Mr Lewis had also argued that “predominantly white people continuing to profit from black culture” and accused Oliver of being part of a system of “structural racism, created to justify slavery and empire.”
The Labour MP was recently criticised for defending an alleged anti-Semite who was expelled from the party for heckling a Jewish MP.
In reference to the rice row, Lewis said the racist system dating back to slavery “denies too many black people a fair shot at doing the same thing,” on Twitter.
UKIP Education spokesman and London Assembly Member David Kurten also blasted the “lunacy and hypocrisy of the far-left.”
He told Breitbart London: “If anyone ever goes on holiday to Jamaica, they will undoubtedly bump into some local people selling tasty jerk chicken or jerk pork meals to tourists in order to make a living.
“Eating food from other cultures and appreciating their art and music is a good thing which everyone enjoys, but manufacturing offence about enjoying other cultures creates hostility and division.”
He continued: “Dawn Butler was once pictured wearing a sari, so by her own standards she should go to diversity training and stop appropriating clothing from other cultures. As for Clive Lewis, I do hope he’s never had a curry, kebab or chimichanga, or he may have to label himself a racist.”
British celebreity chef Jamie Oliver responded to the accusation on Monday, saying: “I’ve worked with flavours and spices from all over the world my whole career, learning and drawing inspiration from different countries and cultures to give a fresh twist to the food we eat every day.
He added: “When I named the rice my intention was only to show where my inspiration came from.”
Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party James Cleverly MP, also an Army Reserve officer, responded to Ms Butler’s on Twitter, joking:
“You should have a look at chicken tikka pizza, it’ll blow your mind.”
Adding: “What Dawn describes as ‘cultural appropriation’ is in fact the highest form of flattery. We have always copied and absorbed elements from other cultures, it is a defining feature of British culture.
He also argued that Oliver’s “jerk rice isn’t necessarily bad news for authentic West Indian food.
“His huge commercial reach will introduce new consumers to [West Indian] cooking, if this helps grow the market for real [West Indian] chefs then it’s good news all round.”
Meanwhile, fellow celebrity chef Levi Roots, who successfully pitched his own jerk-infused Reggae Reggae Sauce on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den show, said Oliver’s decision to launch his jerk rice dish was a “mistake”.
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I do think it was a mistake by Jamie, either by him or by his team. Maybe he wasn’t actually involved in this.”
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