Garron Noone deactivates social media accounts after backlash over immigration video
James Cox
Garron Noone has deactivated his social media accounts following backlash over a video in which he discussed immigration.
The Mayo man became a TikTok/Instagram sensation with his sketches and catchphrase "follow me, I'm delicious".
Noone normally discusses light topics in his videos.
However, he said he had been asked to discuss immigration by his followers after Conor McGregor's controversial White House meeting with Donald Trump.
“There absolutely is an immigration issue in Ireland,” Noone said.
“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.
“The systems that we have in place are being taken advantage of, and that is plain to see, and the Government continually does not allow people to express their concerns about that.
“Along with this, Ireland continues to become one of the richest countries in the world, while most people’s quality of life is going down.”
He added: “Our towns and especially our cities are becoming much less safe. Now that’s 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.
“You increase their distrust in the Government, and you push people towards racism and extremism.
“Now, no doubt, a lot of people in the comments are going to completely misconstrue what I’ve said here, but that’s the internet for you.”
Noone received a lot of criticism over his comments, while others defended him.
In a follow-up video, he said: "If we can’t discuss those things openly, if people are regulated to talking about it in echo chambers and only really hearing about those concerns from more extreme people, that makes everything worse.
“It’s going to make people’s beliefs more extreme, and it fosters things like racism and stuff to get worse and makes us more divided, which I think we have witnessed in other countries.
“I am not anti-immigration. Absolutely crazy to think that.”
Noone has since deactivated his accounts. He had a sizeable following including 1.7 million people on TikTok alone.