Actor James Nesbitt has described as “unnerving” graffiti of his name next to a crosshair on a wall close to his home in Co Antrim after he spoke at the Ireland’s Future event in Dublin.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said they are investigating the graffiti at Bushmills Road in Portrush - believed to have been written sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday evening - as a hate crime.
The graffiti states “1 x king 1 x crown no pope in our town James Nesbitt” next to a painted crosshair.
During the Ireland’s Future gathering at the 3Arena earlier this month - organised by a campaign group advocating for a united Ireland and billed as a conversation about new constitutional arrangements on the island - Nesbitt said we are “standing at a profound moment” in history.
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Nesbitt, known for his roles in hit TV series Cold Feet and Bloodlands as well as playing civil rights campaigner Ivan Cooper in a dramatisation of Bloody Sunday, said on Thursday he was traveling back from holiday when he was told about the threat.
“It is a bit unnerving, of course, and it also saddens me a bit,” he said. “It really saddens me because I am just sorry this has been brought to Portrush, brought to my neighbours, brought to a community I love.
“I really love Portrush and I’m sure it doesn’t represent the majority, I hope it doesn’t represent what the majority of people think there. But what saddens me more is that some people may have misunderstood my position and of course that is causing difficulties,” he told Radio Ulster’s Talkback with William Crawley.
Nesbitt said in a democracy “people are entitled to engage in a public conversation about the future and that is all I was attempting to do when I took part in the Ireland Future’s debate.
“I certainly don’t promote any solution and I don’t support any outcome. In fact, it saddens me that people maybe didn’t fully analyse what I said, maybe just saw opening headlines and made their own judgement.”
Nesbitt said he agreed to take part in the event as a “proud Protestant from the North of Ireland”, that he “never shied away from my Protestant culture”, but added that “it doesn’t define me.”
“If there is going to be change in the relationship between North and South, particularly I want change to happen to people in the North (and) obviously the graffiti, whoever it was carried out by, suggests there is still an element of sectarianism here,” he added. “I think what I am more interested in is that sectarianism is eradicated in the North.”
In the context of potential future change “in the relationship between the North and the South, in our relationship with the rest of the British Isles”, Nesbitt said he “was very much trying to put forward the point that people, particularly from my tradition, that they have their identity, that they are in no way threatened, that they have an equal voice, are part of a society that is progressive, inclusive and diverse.
“I think there has to be a debate (on the future of the island). Frankly I think the current structures are not working,” he added.
Nesbitt said “unquestionably” the majority of people at the Ireland’s Future event were seeking a united or new Ireland, but “that doesn’t mean I was”.
“I was there just saying I think there has to be a debate,” he said. ”In fact, I am trying to get the debate away from politicians. I am trying to get it out of the Dáil, out of Whitehall, and into the church halls, the town halls, the village halls and the Orange halls, so that everyone and leaders of civic society begin to have much more of an impact on what the change should be.”
On Thursday, the PSNI appealed for witnesses to the graffiti threat being daubed in Portrush to come forward.
Former Stormont first minister Arlene Foster was among many who condemned it. “Freedom of speech means the right to give your opinion no matter what others might think,” she posted on Twitter. “I totally condemn this attack on James Nesbitt even though I fundamentally disagree with him. People need to learn to disagree without resorting to threats.”
Nearby SDLP MLA Cara Hunter described it as a “sickening” and “disgraceful” attempt to “shut down conversation around our constitutional future”which has been “condemned by those right across the political spectrum.”
“Everyone is free to express their own opinion on the future of these islands, but they do not have the right to intimidate anyone else simply for engaging in the debate,” she said.
“If we are truly going to build a shared future then we need a wide range of voices contributing to make that possible. Nobody should feel they are unable to take part in that discussion because of incidents like this.”