British YouTuber jokes about launching nuclear weapons at India, under ire for racist remarks

A British YouTuber, Miles Routledge, widely known by his online persona "Lord Miles," has sparked outrage after making a series of racist comments targeting Indians on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, reigniting discussions on the responsibilities of influencers and the impact of hate speech online.

Routledge, who was one of the stranded students in Afghanistan during the Taliban's takeover in 2021, found himself at the centre of controversy again. This time, it was for mocking an individual he believed to be of Indian origin. Routledge shared a private exchange with the person, captioning it, "Indian threatens to find me, it backfires lmao."

The exchange revealed that Routledge had sent his location and a description of his clothing to the individual, challenging them to confront him. He also made mocking remarks, imitating an Indian accent: "Saar okay lord saar good luck saar haha saar."

The situation escalated further when Routledge made a disturbing comment about launching nuclear weapons at India. In a post accompanying a video of alleged nuclear missiles, he wrote, "When I become prime minister of England, I’ll open the nuclear silos as an explicit warning to any foreign power that interferes with British interests and affairs. I’m not talking about huge incidents, I’m itching to launch and atomize entire nations over the smallest infraction. Hell, I might just launch in India just for the sake of it!"

As the post gained traction, with millions of views, an Indian user called out Routledge for inciting violence and spreading misinformation. In response, Routledge doubled down on his offensive comments, stating, "Income from ad sharing is tiny compared to my merch sales, I don’t care about it much. Believe it or not, I just don’t like India. Also, I can sense an Indian, he is Indian. If a man online suddenly talks about ducking your mother in the first response, he’s Indian. Many such cases."