GMB slapped with over 2000 Ofcom complaints over Richard Madeley

25 October 2023 , 13:24

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GMB slapped with over 2000 Ofcom complaints over Richard Madeley

Good Morning Britain has been hit with 2,300 Ofcom complaints.

It comes after broadcaster Richard Madeley asked British-Palestinian MP Layla Moran if she had any intel on the recent Hamas terror attack against Israel. Laya was on the ITV daytime TV programme while her family were trapped in Gaza as Israel prepared a ground invasion.

However, one question from Richard left Laya completely taken aback as he asked whether she knew what was happening in Gaza before the actions took place. However, in a statement later the same day, he apologised while a spokesperson for the programme claimed his comments were to "understand the mood and atmosphere" of the situation in Gaza.

Richard faced a lot of criticism for his comments

It's now been confirmed that broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has received 2,378 complaints over his comments. Madeley said: "With your family connections in Gaza, did you have any indication of what was going to happen ten days ago, two weeks ago? Was there there any word on the street?"

Shocked by what she had heard, the MP for Oxford West & Abingdon responded: "Not this, not this," before adding: "Everyone, everyone has been surprised first of all by the timing and sophistication and they way that it's happened. What I will say is that I've been warning, and others have in Parliament as well for a number of years now, that if we don't find a way..."

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Ms Moran continued: "People say 'go back to the negotiating table'. The fact of the matter is there has not been a table, let alone to go back to a negotiating table for at least ten years. This is a cycle of violence. My worry now is that this is radicalising another generation on all sides. We have to stop this hatred. We have to bring people together and find a way through. Peace is harder than war. It's harder."

Layla Moran was left visibly stunned by his comments (ITV)

In a statement shared with the Mirror from Good Morning Britain, Richard said: "Richard is sorry that he has upset viewers with his question to Layla Moran. His intention was to understand the mood and atmosphere amongst the civilian population of Gaza immediately before the attacks.

"He asked Layla about her family in Gaza City because she had discussed speaking to them earlier in the interview. He did not mean to imply that she or her family might have had any prior knowledge of the attacks." Laya later explained that she accepted Richard's apology despite viewers calling for him to be sacked.

Speaking on Sky News, she said: "I think my face at the time looked pretty flummoxed. Look, the conversation as a whole over the 15-minute interview was an important one. We were looking at how we got here, where we go. I didn't feel and don't feel that it came from a place of malice. I think it, frankly, came from a place of, perhaps, ignorance.

"Perhaps it reminds us that in this conflict, which is complicated – this is not the slam dunk in a way that Russia-Ukraine was – this has a long history that needs to be understood and this has an important context in the wider region that needs to be understood. I have accepted his apology. The main thing is that I don’t want it to distract from these big issues."

Daniel Bird