KATIE Hopkins was banned from Twitter for a message she sent to Dragons winger Ashton Hewitt.

The 25-year-old has used his social media following to promote the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in recent weeks.

Hewitt, who was born in Newport, tweeted that “Katie Hopkins is f****** toxic” after she appeared to mock the BLM protests. 

She tweeted: "Today is #whiteoutwednesday. I will shortly be posting a picture of my a***. Thank you."

Responding to Hewitt, Hopkins said: “Am I? He better be hung like a baboon…#katiehopkins.”

It has since transpired that this post led to the right-wing commentator being banned from the social media platform.

Hopkins said that she received a message from Twitter saying she had violated their rules against hateful conduct.

In a video posted to Facebook she said: “I have been suspended from Twitter for using the phrase 'hung like a baboon'.

"Essentially, someone made a reference to myself of a sexual nature involving the f-word and in response, I said, 'Oh he better be hung like a baboon, i.e. he better be hung like a donkey'.

"It's actually a script-reference from Blackadder.

"Many of you will remember 'hung like a baboon' from Blackadder. 

"It's in the Urban Dictionary as a funny expression.

"It's actually in my Twitter bio as well."

Tweeting this morning, Hewitt said: “Didn’t realise I was actually the reason for Katie Hopkins getting suspended from Twitter (laughing emoji).”

 

Speaking to the South Wales Argus, Hewitt said that he wanted to educate people on the Black Lives Matter protest.

"There have been a lot of instances and situations where I have been accepting of a culture of racial banter, prejudice and stereotypes,” he said.

"I used to let certain things slide but now I am definitely more of the mindset to pull people up on it, and I have been pulling people up on stuff and having conversations with people.

"There is a lot of banter in a rugby environment from people who don't understand the history behind some of the things that they joke about, how those things can impact people and make them feel uncomfortable.

"From my experiences there is a serious lack of education and knowledge around race, the issues and history that makes certain things offensive.

"It's something that needs to be addressed and stamped out. I am guilty of letting it pass and allowing it in a lot of different environments, rugby being only one of them."

In a statement, Twitter said: “Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us.

“Abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken.

“In this case, the account has been permanently suspended for violations of our hateful conduct policy.”

That policy – according to Twitter’s website - prohibits promoting violence against or directly attacking or threatening people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, age, disability or serious disease.