ENGLISH actress Emma Thompson may have to reconsider where she holidays in the British Isles after comments she made on a recent publicity trail.

 
The actress’s next holiday destination is unlikely to be the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Man, after joking that Isle of Wight residents stone homosexuals.

The 51-year-old was appearing on the US chat show The Late Late show when she made the remark when discussing holidays with host Craig Ferguson.

 
After he compared the island of Catalina, off the coast of California, to the Isle of Wight she responded: "Oh, so they stone homosexuals there? Nice.

"I think they are allowed to shoot Irish or Scottish people if they arrive on the island. It is still in the rules, they are allowed to torture people. It's lovely, you should go."

According to the Daily Mail, Miss Thompson confused the island with the Isle of Man.

The dailymail.co.uk website said: "Miss Thompson appeared to have confused the Isle of Wight with the Isle of Man, which legalised homosexuality in 1992, 25 years behind England and Wales. Young offenders were thrashed with the birch on the island until the 1970s."

The issue of whether she meant the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Man has been the subject of discussion on a number of chat forums on the internet.

In the wake of her comments, Isle of Wight council leader, David Pugh said: "It’s a great shame that someone with her profile should make such ridiculous claims."

The Isle of Man has attracted major Hollywood names to the Island in previous years.

Stars such as Johnny Depp, Renee Zellweger and Zac Efron have been met with open arms by the people of the Isle of Man.

Needless to say, if indeed she was confusing the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man, she may face a frosty reception if she ever makes a film here.