ITV Good Morning Britain hit with hundreds of Ofcom complaints over Nigel Farage's appearance
Good Morning Britain was hit with hundreds of Ofcom complaints over Nigel Farage's appearance on the ITV show.
Farage appeared on Good Morning Britain last Tuesday, where he joined Susanna Reid and Ed Balls to discuss the party's manifesto - which he refused to call a manifesto and instead referred to as a 'contract'. Ofcom received 471 complaints for Good Morning Britain on June 18th, but most of the complaints were made about the treatment of Nigel Farage by the presenters during an interview.
During the conversation, Susanna asked him: "How can you defend 41 candidates for your party found to be social media friends with a fascist leader?" to which Nigel replied back: "Most of our candidates are not political sophisticates. Having said that, like the green party, and like other parties, we’ve had one or two slip through the net that shouldn’t have done.
Farage appeared on Good Morning Britain last week
"There will be a story coming out at lunchtime today where you will hear that we paid a very large sum of money to a reputable vetting company who didn’t do the work. So yes, we’ve got one or two problems but people like each other on Facebook and I’m sorry, I just don’t take that seriously." When Susanna pushed him to ask what he was going to do with the 41 candidates, he refused to answer and insisted he wouldn't be doing anything.
"Nothing. As I say, people like each other on Facebook without knowing who they are liking… people befriend people on Facebook after five seconds," he replied back. When they discussed one particular candidate, who had apologised for claiming that 'the country would be far better' if we did not participate in World War II.
He said: "In a free society, people are allowed to have different opinions. I disagree vehemently that we should not have participated in World War II but once your name is on the ballot paper, it can't be removed."
Whilst some saw issue with the treatment of Farage, many praised Susanna for shutting down the politician on the show. One wrote: "Nigel Farage has just had an absolute nightmare on @GMB," whilst a second added: "His arguments crumple like a wet paper bag any time he’s exposed to even the slightest scrutiny. He then switches into the aggressive head-thrusting, finger-jabbing nastiness that’s always lurking just underneath the phoney hail-fellow-well-met facade." A third penned: "Susanna Reid is probably the only GMB presenter that is capable of interviewing high-profile politicians. Indeed she crucified Nigel Farage, well done Susanna."
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