Russell Brand confronted by friend of Tunisia massacre victims after condemning minute of silence as 'minute of bulls**t'
Comedian was told he looked like he 'didn't give a toss' about victims
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Your support makes all the difference.Russell Brand has been confronted by a friend of two of the victims of the Tunisia massacre after he called the minute’s silence held in honour of the dead “a minute of bullshit”.
David Cameron asked for a national minute of silence to remember the 38 people killed during an attack on a hotel in Tunisia. Thirty of the victims were Britons, making it the worst terror attack on British people since the 7/7 bombings.
Brand dismissed the minute of silence as part of a "general policy of bulls**t" which he claimed was so the Government "can continue selling arms around the world and perpetuating a cycle where its own needs are met at the expense of its own citizens".
The comedian and activist's divisive remarks sparked anger among many Britons, who felt they were disrespectful to victims of the shooting.
On Monday, Brand was confronted by a man driving in a van who said he had lost his friends Patrick and Adrian Evans in the attack. The man, who gave his name as Rob, told Brand he came across as if he "didn't give a toss" about the tragedy.
"I lost two people I know in the tragedy,” he said. “I just wanted to ask you a question about what you meant behind your comments regarding the minute's silence?"
The exchange was filmed by Brand and uploaded onto his YouTube channel.
Brand responded by saying the Government has a number of foreign policies that make situations such as Tunisia worse and can even create other conflicts.
“Our Government has a human rights abusers list where it says ‘these countries are dangerous countries, don’t go there, there is terrorists there’ – then our actual Government help arms companies to those countries.
“If you really care about this and the situation, then don’t sell weapons to these countries – don’t arm them, or if you think business is more important that people’s lives, just sell the weapons and shut up.”
Brand also said he was religious and prayed to God every day, especially when people are suffering. "That's something I really care about," he added.
"What I said about the minute's silence was don't do those gestures if you're contributing to creating the situation that led to their death.
"The stuff they say [the Government] and the stuff they do is completely disconnected and for me this was one more example of 'oh we will do the minute's silence, we will march for Charlie Hebdo' but they are creating the problem.
"So by all means, have a minute's silence, but also do the things that are actually affecting it."
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