Julie Burchill acknowledged that her social media activity had ‘played into Islamophobic tropes’ ‘I accept that my statements were defamatory of Ms Sarkar and caused her very substantial distress’ LONDON: British columnist Julie Burchill has apologized to activist and journalist Ash Sarkar — and agreed to pay her “substantial damages” — for offensive social media posts in December. Following the settlement of a libel and harassment case, Burchill said on Twitter and Facebook that her social media activity had “included racist and misogynist comments” and “played into Islamophobic tropes.” She added: “Although it was not my intention, I accept that my statements were defamatory of Ms Sarkar and caused her very substantial distress.” The Sunday Telegraph columnist asked her thousands of social media followers to retweet and share her apology. In her December posts, Burchill claimed that Sarkar was a terrorist sympathizer and fundamentalist, and speculated about her sex life. Burchill also “liked” posts saying Sarkar should kill herself and suggesting she was a victim of female genital mutilation, while calling on her social media followers to “wade in on Twitter” against “the Islamists.” Following the settlement out of court, Burchill said: “I deeply regret having reacted in the way I did. I accept that I should have behaved better. On reflection, I accept that I misjudged the situation, and made statements that simply are not true, which I now want to put right.” Sarkar said Burchill’s “repeated sexual and degrading comments” had “carried a persistent threatening undertone.”