Ballina TikTok star deactivates social media accounts
Garron Noone pictured on The Late Late Country Music Special. Picture Andres Poveda
Ballina comedian and singer Garron Noone has deleted his social media accounts.
The hugely popular TikTok creator - known for signing off videos with his catchphrase, "follow me, I'm delicious" - faced a massive backlash over comments he made regarding immigration in a video responding to MMA Fighter Conor McGregor’s appearance at the White House.
Noone said that while he doesn’t think McGregor is a good person, he said McGregor’s comments about immigration resounded with many in Ireland.
“There absolutely is an immigration issue in Ireland,” Garron 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.”
“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.”
In a follow-up video, Garron said he was not far right but stood by the point he was making.
“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 social media accounts where he had 1.7 million followers on TikTok alone.
