Sonia Kruger reads a statement on Today Extra following her controversial comments on Muslim immigration

SONIA Kruger has read a prepared statement this morning following her controversial comments yesterday calling for a ban on Muslim immigration.

• PANAHI: Sonia dares to speak, sparking crazed abuse
• O’BRIEN: Shut out terrorists, not all Muslims
• BOLT: Muslim migration opens door to terror

SONIA Kruger has read a prepared statement this morning on Today Extra, following her controversial comments yesterday calling for a ban on Muslim immigration.

Speaking on yesterday morning’s program, Kruger called for Muslims to be banned from entering the country due to terrorism concerns.

The ensuing 24 hours have seen Kruger cop an intense online backlash, with many in the media denouncing her comments.

“The discussion we had centred around a newspaper article which reverenced the correlation between the Muslim population of certain countries, and the number of subsequent terrorist attacks,” Kruger read today.

“I felt the article made some relevant points.”

Kruger said how “we have witnessed too many atrocities in the name of terrorism, and last week’s attack on innocent men, women and children in Nice left me in utter disbelief.”

“I saw the image of a baby covered in a plastic sheet, with a doll lying beside her, and it rocked me to the very core,” she said.

“I imagined what that must have been like for the people of Nice, for the friends and families of the lost and the thought that it could happen here terrifies me.”

She said this type of “attack effects people from all walks of life.”

“I want to make it very clear, that I have complete respect for people of all races and religions,” Kruger said.

“I acknowledge my views yesterday may have been extreme.”

She said on Today Extra the reaction overnight, in the papers, online and via social media demonstrates that there are a myriad of opinions in Australia, which I fully appreciate.

“It is a hugely complex issue with no simple answer, and it’s an issue that cannot be fully discussed in a short, televised segment,” she said.

“Is there a solution? I don’t know. We elect politicians to make those calls,” she said.

“They analyse and they decide, and we hope they get it right.”

Kruger expressed how it’s a “privilege to live in a country such as Australia which embraces a multicultural society.”

“But there is no simple answer here, and if we are to find a solution to the situation, at the very least we need to be able to discuss it,” she said.

Earlier on in the morning Kruger was backed up by her Channel 9 colleagues for having the right to speak out, including Today newsreader Sylvia Jeffreys.

Jeffreys said her friend was honest person and not a racist.

“She spoke yesterday with brutal honesty on her emotions as a mother,” she said.

“I don’t agree with Sonia’s argument, plenty of people don’t, plenty people do, but she has the right to voice her opinion.”

READ MORE:

O’BRIEN: Shut out terrorists, not all Muslims

PANAHI: Sonia dares to speak, sparking crazed abuse

BOLT: Muslim migration opens door to terror