This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has apologised after viewers called him out for saying Dr Zoe Williams' hair reminded him of an alpaca.
In Thursday's show, the journalist and TV presenter was chatting to the show’s doctor Dr Zoe about how your health can benefit from gardening and alpacas.
The pair and his co-presenter and wife Ruth Langsford were discussing health headlines before Eamonn quipped: “Your hair reminds of an alpaca today.
“You just want to pet it, don’t you? It’s very alpaca-ish.”
Dr Zoe then laughed it off while Eamonn’s wife Ruth could be seen smiling at his remark.
She then joked: “Don’t touch my hair,” before pointing at the presenter with her pen through the camera.
However, some viewers of the ITV daytime show seemed to take offence by the comment and thought it was being racist.
One person wrote: “The interesting bit is that she feels obliged to laugh along out of politeness. All black people are familiar with this. If she makes a scene, she loses the gig or is seen as humourless. ‘It was only a joke.’ Every day as a black person is a negotiation and it’s exhausting.”
Eamonn Holmes slams Sarah Ferguson for This Morning snub as he rages 'everyone but us'
Another person said: "Just a normal day on @ITV and @ThisMorning with Eamonn Holmes telling a woman of colour her hair 'reminds him of an alpaca'. Nothing to see here."
Meanwhile, a third added: "This is why many black women avoid wearing their natural hair to work … even on Zoom in the comforts of their own home. Eamonn… disgusting."
A fourth simply said: "It wasn’t humorous it was vile and unnecessary."
Eamonn Holmes leaves Ruth Langsford unimpressed as he hints she likes a 'roll in hay'
Eamonn soon apologised and tweeted his followers with an apology and said: “Hey everyone out there. If my attempt at being humorous with my friend @DrZoeWilliams was misjudged I am mortified and humbly apologise to anyone who was offended.”
Not all the comments called out the TV presenter, however, with some fans replying they didn’t take any offence to the remark.
One person replied: “It was light hearted banter between friends. I’m sure some people don’t watch the same programme as the rest of rest of us.”
A second said: “I found it funny never occurred to me it was offensive.”
Another added: "Bless you Eamonn, Zoe knows you well enough to understand what you meant. She's a beautiful lady! No offence was meant, you're a lovely man."
A fourth said: "I saw it was so glad she laughed it off not offensive at all… people go way over the top nowadays I hate the fact we have to feel the need to apologise constantly because of offending people – bit of banter is great.”
Eamonn Holmes is currently doing the summer run of the ITV show while presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby are on their break.
This Morning continues on weekdays at 10am on ITV.
For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.
Source: Read Full Article
