Sonia Kruger has defended the controversial comments she made about Muslim immigration, with the Nine Network backing her "freedom of speech" in expressing the opinion.
The Today Extra host on Monday called for the Australian borders to be closed to Muslim migrants, and says she's entitled to discuss these issues.
"Following the atrocities of last week in Nice where 10 children lost their lives, as a mother, I believe it's vital in a democratic society to be able to discuss these issues without automatically being labelled racist," she posted on Twitter.
Her comments came during a discussion relating to an article written by News Corp columnist Andrew Bolt, who said there was a link between France's terror attacks with the country's intake of Muslim migrants.
While Kruger said she had a lot of "peace-loving" Muslim friends she said there are also fanatics.
"Personally I would like to see it stopped now for Australia because I would like to feel safe as all of our citizens do when they go out to celebrate Australia Day and I'd like to see freedom of speech."
Today host Lisa Wilkinson pressed Kruger for clarification.
"Sonia are you saying that you would like our borders closed to Muslims at this point?" Wilkinson asked.
"Yes I would. I would because I think we have something like 500,000 in our country now ... for the safety of our citizens here, I think it's important," Kruger replied.
Sonia Kruger was the top trend on Twitter on Monday afternoon following her comments, sparking many to speak out on social media for and against her comments.
The Nine Network released a statement on Kruger's comments on Monday afternoon.
"Nine's view is that we believe in freedom of speech and the Mixed Grill segment on the Today show is a place where that happens," a Nine spokeswoman said.
"Sonia, David and Lisa each expressed a variety of opinions on the show this morning."
