Louis Theroux believes the US is now “weirder than it was” following the filming of his new documentary series, Forbidden America.
The Weird Weekends presenter blamed the radicalising power of the internet for bringing right-wing forces to the fore, saying Trump is “evidence of that”.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: “In a weird way it was simpler in the old days, when racists and skinheads wore swastikas and were relatively powerless.
“They had no access to power.”
He also worries that Trumpian currents are beginning to run through Britain, describing Boris Johnson’s attempt to link Keir Starmer to the failed prosecution of Jimmy Savile as “straight out of the Trump playbook”.
Sir Keir Starmer said he feared for his young children after receiving death threats following the prime minister’s Savile smear in parliament.
Boris Johnson falsely claimed that the Labour leader had failed to prosecute the sex offender when he was head of the Crown Prosecution.
Since then, Starmer has been mobbed outside parliament and has received online threats that have now been handed to the Met Police for investigation.
“I do not like talking about this because I have got young children,” Sir Keir told BBC Radio Newcastle on Monday.
“It’s very important for me to say that what the Prime Minister said was wrong, it was very wrong. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“There has been a right-wing conspiracy theory for some time that’s a complete fabrication.
“He fed into that, and that has caused difficulty, but my preference, if I may, is not to talk about that because, as I say, I have got young children and I don’t particularly want them to hear too much of what may or may not be said about me.”
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