Media personality to address city’s students Columnist Hopkins invited to talk at university event

Controversial newspaper columnist Katie Hopkins is set to address students at the University of Kent next month.

The ex-apprentice contestant has accepted an invitation to give a talk in Canterbury on Thursday, March 21 titled “We are not all equal. Some people are not worth the effort”.

The outspoken media personality has been invited by the Liberty Union, a group of libertarian students who say she is “largely misrepresented”.

Hopkins has made a number of statements which have caused a widespread backlash, and was dismissed from the radio station LBC in 2017 after calling for a “final solution” following the Manchester Arena terror attack.

She was also accused of spread- ing racial hatred after penning a column in The Sun comparing migrants risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe to “cockroaches” and suggesting that gunships should be used to prevent their arrival.

Her participation at a debate on citizenship and human rights at the University of Exeter last week drew widespread protests and a petition from staff calling for her invitation to be withdrawn.

The talk in Canterbury is billed as “largely comedic” and will be raising money for Tostan, a charity which works to prevent female genital mutilation in Africa.

The Liberty Union has a history of hosting controversial speakers on university campus, including prominent Youtuber Carl Benjamin, who has criticised feminism, Islam and political correctness.

The event will need to be approved by both the university and Kent Union before being given the final go-ahead.

Kent Union spokesman Matt Goodwin said: “I can confirm that a student group have requested to have Katie Hopkins speak at the University.

“This is currently at review stage with the University and the Union.”

Hopkins shot to fame as a contestant in the third series of The Apprentice in 2007.

Following further appearances in the media, she has written columns for several national newspapers including The Sun and Mailonline.

In 2017, she was ordered to pay £24,000 in damages and £107,000 in legal costs to food writer Jack Monroe for comments she made on Twitter.

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