Lily Allen pulled from Newsnight after controversial Grenfell Tower comments

Lily Allen is interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 news
Lily Allen is interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 news Credit: Channel 4

Lily Allen was scheduled to appear on Newsnight on Thursday but was replaced after comments she made about the fire at Grenfell Tower on Channel 4 news.

The singer later explained on Twitter that she had been replaced by "someone from the council". 

Newsnight editor Ian Katz has said, however, that Allen was removed from the programme solely because prioritising an interview with Nick Paget-Brown, the leader of  the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council, made more sense.

"We generally prioritise [interviews] with people who can be held accountable," he said on Twitter, after stressing that the decision to cancel Allen's appearance had nothing to do with the comments she made on Channel 4.

Earlier in the evening, in an interview with Jon Snow, Allen had accused the government of trying to "micro-manage" people's grief.

"I have never in my entire life seen an event like this where the death count has been downplayed by the mainstream media," Allen said.

"Seventeen? I'm sorry but I'm hearing from people that the figure is much closer to 150, and that many of those people are children.

"Those are off the record numbers I've been given from policemen and from firemen."

Snow responded by saying that he was aware of the fact that the number of confirmed dead is likely to increase "very considerably", but pointed out that difficulties identifying victims may have hindered reporting of the true number of fatalities.

"I appreciate the difficulties with identifying bodies, but there are people out here clinging to hope when I don't think there is any," Allen later said on Twitter.

The 32-year-old went on to explain in a longer Twitter post why she was politicising this tragedy.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.