TV

Good Morning Britain hit with Ofcom warning after Piers Morgan racks up complaints for mocking Chinese language


Good Morning Britain has been hit with a warning from Ofcom over its ‘combative dynamic’ between presenters after Piers Morgan racked up complaints for mocking Chinese language.

The cautioning came as the watchdog issued its statement in response to the complaints made about Piers, who mimicked the Chinese language during an episode which aired earlier this year.

On January 21, the controversial presenter mocked a Chinese milk advert starring Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson, Peter Phillips. He attempted to repeat what was said in the clip, saying: ‘Ching chang cho jo.’

Co-star Susanna reacted by saying: ‘You can’t say that. Taking the mickey out of foreign languages is rather 1970.

‘Piers, do you not realise the kind of woke times we’re living in?’

In turn, the gag received more than 1,500 complaints to Ofcom and prompted ITV to finally apologise.

Good Morning Britain has been warned over its ‘combative dynamic’ between presenters (Picture: Rex)

Ofcom has now shared its response to the incident and has ruled out pursuing a full investigation.

The watchdog highlighted that while Susanna’s reaction ‘gave some challenge to Piers Morgan’s mimicry of the Chinese language and provided some mitigation to the potential offence’, their presenting style could cause problems.

‘We remind ITV that there are compliance risks in relying on a “combative dynamic” between presenters as a way to provide challenge and context for the broadcast of content which may cause offence,’ they said.

‘This approach can provide significant context, as in this case. However, depending on the particular circumstances, this may not always provide sufficient context to comply with the code.’

Ofcom welcomed the fact that ITV had issued an apology and discussed the complaints with Piers to reduce a similar incident happening again.

They concluded that Good Morning Britain didn’t warrant further investigation, adding: ‘This was a finely balanced decision in which Ofcom had to take careful account of the right to freedom of expression, and the degree to which these comments had the potential to cause offence, particularly to viewers of Chinese heritage.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.

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