Charlene White racist abuse
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Loose Women star Charlene White reveals she was trolled by racists over not wearing a poppy

Just horrendous

Loose Women star Charlene White has admitted she suffered so badly at the hands of trolls that she has been left in tears.

And, she admitted, it was all over her not wearing a poppy on television.

Charlene, 40, claimed she became the target of a disgusting “Sack The [bleep]” campaign led by an English Defence League member.

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Loose Women star Charlene White said racist abuse had her in tears (Credit: ITV)

Loose Women star Charlene: ‘It takes a lot to make me cry’

While speaking to The Mirror, she explained: “It all came to a head when a member of the EDL said: ‘I’ve heard there’s a black girl on ITV that doesn’t wear a poppy,’ and told his followers to abuse me in any way they could find me.”

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She went on to say this resulted in thousands of abusive comments and messages on social media.

And even a petition to get the journalist fired off of ITV.

It takes a lot to make me cry, but it got to a point where it was really overwhelming and really did make me cry.

The abuse caused her to break down in tears.

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Charlene said: “It takes a lot to make me cry, but it got to a point where it was really overwhelming and really did make me cry.”

Later adding: “Any time I talk about anything to do with race, it’s like a barrage of online abuse comes in my direction.”

charlene white on lorraine
Charlene is an ITN journalist and Loose Women panelist (Credit: ITV)

She supports the Royal British Region

The broadcaster first revealed why she wouldn’t wear a poppy live on air back in 2014.

But it is not because she has any issue with the Royal British Legion as a charity. Nor Remembrance Day as a memorial day.

It is because she believes it is unfair that this is the only charity journalists are allowed to promote live on air.

She fully explained her decision in an essay published on ITV.

Here she wrote: “I support and am patron of a number of charities, and due to impartiality rules, I am not allowed to visually support them all whilst presenting news programmes.”

Charlene said she’s been a victim of extreme trolling (Credit: SplashNews)

She continued: “So I feel uncomfortable supporting just one charity above all others, namely The Royal British Legion, but I fully support my colleagues who do choose to wear the poppy on screen.”

What’s more, she says she does support the charity outside of work, and wears a poppy off camera.

She’s also from a military family, with her father serving in the RAF and her uncle in the Army.

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor