Sinead O'Connor: 'White people are disgusting'

The singer, who recently converted to Islam, is back on controversial Twitter form

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has taken aim at white people in her latest Twitter rant. Image via MagdaDavitt77 on Twitter

Sinead O'Connor may have converted to Islam recently, but the former Orthodox Christian priest and Nothing Compares 2U singer is showing no signs of dropping her penchant for controversial tweets now she's at peace with her faith. The singer has previously had public spats with Prince, Madonna, and the Pope, to name three. This time the object of her ire is: All white people.

O’Connor took to Twitter on October 19 to announce that she had converted to Islam and changed her name to Shuhada’ Davitt.

Things were relatively calm for the next couple of weeks, with the occasional shared prayers or sayings from the Koran, and on one occasion celebrating writing her name in Arabic for the first time.

Today, however, O'Connor was back with her assertion that "white people (if that's what non-Muslims are called)" are "disgusting," and she never wants to spend time with them again.

O’Connor, or Davitt, seems to have overlooked two crucial factors in this statement: Firstly, there are plenty of white Muslims in the world, and secondly, and crucially, she is herself white.

Plenty of Davitt’s Muslim, and non-Muslim, followers were eager to point out that the singer’s statement was not entirely in keeping with the message of Islam. @Special_Hijabi noted that Prophet Mohammed and his companions spent plenty of time mingling with non-Muslims.

While Muhammad Ahmad turned to the scriptures to insist there is no place for racism in Islam.

Flower Power, meanwhile, somewhat credulously cited Davitt’s outburst as an example of how easily radicalism can spread

Many tweeters, such as Nora, wanted to emphasise that there are good and bad people in any religion, race or culture.

Plenty of tweeters also suggested that this wasn’t a question of religion or race, but more likely an online snapshot of a woman with something of a track record in the field having a very public breakdown. Hayley Kelly blamed “distructive [sic] mental health.”

and some users urged Davitt to seek professional help.

Mazzokisssed had perhaps the most succinct assessment of the situation, saying simply "she’s off again."

Davitt seems unlikely to respond to any of the advice, concerns or criticism. Since her conversion last month, the singer has updated her Twitter profile to note: “Replies to my tweets will not be read. Nor can you post on my page if I’m not following you. This is due to Islamophobia.”

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