Jon Snow hits out at 'poppy fascism'

[dutchman]

Veteran newsreader Jon Snow has hit out at what he calls "poppy fascism" after being criticised for not wearing the emblem on-air before Remembrance Sunday.



The row broke out last week on the 63-year-old's Snowblog site when a viewer calling himself Stan accused Snow of "dishonouring" those who died in the war.

In response, Snow wrote: "They died that we might be free to wear a Poppy whenever we wish. I wish to wear mine on Remembrance Sunday. When you wish to wear yours is your business.

"Compelling people to wear poppies because you think they ought to is precisely the Poppy fascism, or intolerance, that I have complained of in the past."

He added: "On yer bike Stan, with or without a poppy, it's all your own free choice. Hitler lost the war!"

Snow continued to vent his frustration this week on his Twitter page, again claiming that people died in the war defending our freedom of choice.

The presenter told his followers on the site that he will choose to wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday when he is "with others, in church, not on telly".

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "We don't impose a requirement to wear poppies, nor is there a deliberate decision not to do so."

Last week, the BBC was criticised by a Royal British Legion worker for allowing its presenters to wear remembrance poppies on-air before fundraising could get underway.