Katie Hopkins on LBC: Straight Talking & Honest Commentary?

Katie Hopkins. The newspaper columnist and ex apprentice star who has offended pretty much everyone in the UK has landed her own show on LBC.

She’s referred to refugees as ‘cockroaches’, and women breast feeding in Costa apparently ‘puts her off her latte’. She described dementia patients as ‘bed blockers’, and tweeted that ‘Ginger babies. Like a baby. Just so much harder to love’. Not forgetting the crème de la crème of them all – Katie criticised parents who name their children after ‘places’, despite her own child being named ‘India’. This is only the tip of the big offensive iceberg that is Katie Hopkins.

Her weekly programme was launched on Sunday 10th April, and will run every Sunday from 10am to midday, broadcasting on FM in London and on digital nationwide. Katie promised she would bring ‘straight talking and honest commentary to the weekend schedule’.

“I’m here with my own show” she bellows, “which I’m sure many of you will be delighted with”.

I went into listening to Katie’s first show with an open mind; it’s comforting to think that she is miss-quoted in the press and that people love a ‘pantomime villain’ style character. 

Katie doesn’t seem hesitant or nervous; she is fairly natural as a radio presenter, particularly as it’s her first show alone. First up on her itinerary is David Cameron’s tax affairs, she boasts that she supports people being wealthy and paying as little tax as possible as she ‘hates the HMRC’.

Anyone that disagrees with her opinions is seemingly labelled a ‘lefty’ or a ‘hypocritical Guardian reader’. She describes how she went to witness the protests outside of parliament in light of David Cameron’s tax avoidance and is ‘ashamed’ by the people she saw. She then drops a massive generalisation, calling the protestors ‘the great unwashed’.

Poor Ruben from Stockport is her first caller. Whilst he is talking, she doesn’t engage, she shuffles her papers and gives one word answers until he finishes and she can go off into a one-sided spout. She can most definitely be described as a ranter – not a listener, which probably isn’t practical for a radio talk show host.
I would give Katie one slight bit of praise. When she is reading mean tweets that people have written about her, her answers are amusing. She can dish it out but she can most certainly take it back. When a women with the handle @pam_mussett tweets her some abuse, her simple response is “I’m sorry that you got called Pam.” 

Thankfully the show does become less abrasive as it goes on, which makes it more listenable. I think as time goes on, Katie will tone down the act and maybe even listen to what other people have to say.

Spokespeople
At IMN we stride to form good relationships with radio presenters (perhaps not Katie Hopkins). We always provide good quality content and spokespeople for radio presenters, whether it is news or programming, from factual to lifestyle pieces.
​
For more information on how your business, or you can be involved please click here to get in contact or call us on 020 7717 9696 or email [email protected].