Mo Ansar, the British Muslim commentator known for his regular television and radio appearances as the self-declared voice of moderate Islam, has been exposed as a fantasist. Three separate reports today reveal the truth about the Muslim Walter Mitty.
Historian Jeremy Duns has been working on the Ansar story for weeks. Today he writes:
“Mo Ansar is far from moderate. He has some very immoderate views indeed, and is a devious charlatan to boot. With no serious base of expertise to draw on, he has created a media profile for himself built on sycophancy, evasion and deception. He has smeared perceived rivals, promoted extremist views and inflamed tensions. He may seem like a buffoon at times, but his ruthless pursuit of more airtime has been toxic.”
Journalist Milo Yiannopoulos has a forensic account of Ansar’s untruths:
“Ansar has fabricated an extraordinary number of jobs, lied about professional qualifications and invented work experience, causing distress and harm to many, misleading the public and most likely breaking the law. He has bullied ordinary members of the public, filed nonsense police reports and failed to declare taxable income… Ansar has also been revealed as the man behind at least one anonymous “sock-puppet” account on social media, through which he has supported his own opinions and even had conversations with himself in order to give the impression of support for his views. He also used the account to attack prominent media personalities, in order to raise his own profile.”
In this week’s Spectator Nick Cohen concludes:
“If producers dropped Mo Ansar, he would have nothing to fall back on. He would become what those who have felt the thrill of fame fear most: just another face in the street. Some minor celebrities respond to insecurity by being brittle and melancholic off camera. Others go on the attack. No one has experienced Ansar ‘s fury like the men who have threatened his career as an ‘opinion former’.”
The allegations are far too numerous to list on this blog so it is worth reading each of these reports in full. Given what we know know about Mo Ansar, it is difficult to see how television and radio producers can ever book him for a media appearance again…
