Tension heated up in the Good Morning Britain studio as a guest clashed with host Adil Ray.
Hosts Adil and Kate Garraway were joined by Kate Smurthwaite and Dr Zoe Strimpel to discuss TfL's launch of posters against "intrusive staring".
The campaign aims to sending a strong message to offenders that sexual harassment is not tolerated, though some have questioned how useful having the posters are and whether staring should be punishable.
Adil began the debate by asking: "What’s so bad with staring, Kate?"
She replied: "Well, this is exactly the point of it.
“It’s like, of course, there are plenty of people who do stare and it’s completely innocent. No one's going to suggest that you’re going to gawk out the window at a seagull and somebody’s going to be like, ‘That seagull doesn’t need your attention’.
“What we’re talking about is when someone is deliberately staring at you, possibly heavy breathing, touching their leg at the same time, licking their lips -"
Adil interjected as he said that that was "adding a few things on" to the message and later gave an example of a time he had stared at someone he was attracted to.
He said: "I had a situation, 2008, I’m in an airport on my own and I’m at the baggage reclaim and I see a really attractive lady on the other side and we caught each other’s eye and we ended up looking at each other.
"We were staring at each other!"
Quizzed on whether it was intrusive or a "super welcome" stare, he continued: "I don’t know! I was staring at her and waiting for her to look at me. She looked at me and as we walked out we ended up next to each other and I asked for her number… we ended up going out for dinner while on the holiday and that started with a stare."
Kate asked him: "Are you worried that you could’ve been accused of staring?”
Adil replied: "I think I could, I couldn’t do that.”
She went on to accuse him of tweaking the debate, saying: "I think that’s why we’re talking about harassment.
"Also, I think it’s a bit like… when we’re talking about people being sexually harassed on public transport, it’s a bit sort of gaslighting to say, ‘Well, I was looking at somebody and it was all rather nice’.
“Because obviously, that’s not what we’re talking about."
*Good Morning Britains airs weekdays at 6am on ITV
