Labour MP Jared O'Mara apologises after asking Girls Aloud for an orgy and saying fat women 'do not deserve respect'
Member for Sheffield Hallam also joked it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was 'sodomised with his own piano'
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Your support makes all the difference.A Labour MP has apologised for any offence caused after making a series of derogatory online comments about celebrities before he was elected.
Jared O’Mara joked about having an orgy with members of Girls Aloud, claimed Michelle McManus only won Pop Idol “because she was fat” and suggested it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was “sodomised with his own piano”.
The comments – reported by the Guido Fawkes website – led to calls for Mr O’Mara to be sacked from the Commons Women and Equalities Committee.
Sheffield Hallam MP Mr O’Mara – who ousted former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in the June election – told the website: “These comments were posted years ago, with no offence intended. I apologise for any caused.”
In a comment posted on the Drowned in Sound music website in 2004, Mr O’Mara said: “Girls Aloud – I advise you to sack Sarah and the remaining four members (Nicola, Cheryl, Nadine and Kimberley) come have an orgy with me.”
In March 2004 on the same forum, he suggested Pop Idol’s 2003 victor McManus “only won because she was fat”.
The blog also alleges that O’Mara referred to women as “fatties” who “do not deserve our respect.”
Mr O’Mara, who has cerebral palsy, added: “Being a disabled person, I would hate to win something because people thought I was ‘brave’ or felt sorry for me, rather than for my superior ability/talent.”
In the same post, he said of Cullum: “It would be no great loss to the music world if he was sodomised with his own piano and subsequently died of a sore arse. In fact, it would be quite funny.”
Liberal Democrat peer and former leader of Sheffield Council Lord Scriven said: “It seems like a nasty pattern of sexist language and misogyny is developing from the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam. He clearly isn’t fit to sit on the Women and Equalities Committee. He must stand down from that committee immediately and if he doesn’t, Jeremy Corbyn must take action to remove him.
“Having spoken to voters in Sheffield Hallam, they are beginning to question what kind of MP he is.”
Additional reporting by PA.
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