Paul Mescal causes outrage by not wearing a poppy on Graham Norton show

Paul Mescal was the stand-out guest on The Graham Norton Show this week - namely because he was the only one on the couch who wasn't wearing a remembrance poppy.

The actor, who joined Graham this week to chat about his new film Aftersun, sat alongside Black Panther stars Michaela Coel and Winston Duke, My Policeman's Emma Corrin, comedian Richard Ayoade, and singer Loyle Carner, who all had their poppies pinned to their chest in honour of Remembrance Day.

To some, the reason behind Paul's decision to ditch the poppy might seem obvious, but a lot of people who tuned in on Friday night couldn't understand it and took to Twitter to call out the Normal People star.

"Why is Paul Mescal not wearing a Poppy on The Graham Norton Show????" asked one outraged viewer.

Addressing the actor directly, a second tweeted: "@mescal_paul where’s your poppy?!"

And a third wondered: "Why is Paul Mescal not wearing a poppy?"

Twitter

If you haven't worked it out by now, don't worry. There were plenty of Irish people on-hand to help the more distressed viewers work it out.

"He is Irish... we don't wear them or celebrate British atrocities on our island," explained one Twitter user.

Another added: "It’s not our thing really... not overly keen on the old poppy over here... British soldiers committing atrocities in Ireland sort of turned us off it, but hey, each to their own."

Yep, you may have noticed that when Irish celebs appear on British telly at this time of year, they tend to avoid wearing the poppy.

BBC

That's because the annual Poppy Appeal is seen as a tribute to British soldiers - who don't exactly have the best track record in Ireland.

Although almost 50,000 Irish men died in the British forces during World War One, it's still a pretty dicey move for Irish republicans to honour them with the British poppy.

That's why, while a lot of people were calling out Paul for forgetting his poppy, Irish viewers were thrilled to see that good old Paul had decided not to wear the poppy on TV.

"Love that Paul Mescal isn’t wearing a poppy on #TheGNShow," raved one Irish fan.

"#GrahamNorton yes Paul mescal no poppy lad," tweeted another.

All in all, Ireland's history with the Brits is long and complicated.

Speaking as an Irish person, my only advice would be: if you haven't read up on it, it's probably best to just keep quiet on this one.

You can watch The Graham Norton Show on Friday at 10.40pm on BBC One.