ITV's Good Morning Britain presenter Ben Shephard was forced to issue a correction on the show today after journalist Quentin Letts' "unbelievable" comments sparked uproar with viewers. During a discussion about the recent allegations that an MP had watched porn in the House of Commons, Quentin played "devil's advocate" but his comments backfired with GMB fans.
The journalist, who appeared on GMB on Thursday (April 28), said Parliament is a "extremely boring place" and "not exactly like a church" when discussing the recent reports. Viewers reacted saying he was "justifying" watching pornography in the workplace.
"If I can just play devil's advocate for a second," Quentin said: "I'd say, first of all, if you've ever been in the House of Commons it's an extremely boring place. I think it would be wrong for viewers to think that parliamentarians are constantly thinking about great matters of state when they're in the House of Commons.
"You go in there and they're doing all sorts of things, they're looking at their tablets, so it's not exactly as though it's like a church in there. And second I'd say politics is politics, and the politicians tend to represent the country and there are a lot of pretty grotty people in this country who get a kick out of pornography."
The 59-year-old's comments sparked outrage on social media, one GMB viewer Walker tweeted: "Am I high right now, or is Quentin Letts trying to justify watching porn in the workplace #GMB" @flopsypickle added: "Quentin wasn’t playing devils advocate, not at first. He clearly found it highly amusing, given he couldn’t stop laughing, and yes, he was excusing what the MP did. ‘It’s boring in the House of Commons’, yes, most jobs are, but you check Twitter not porn! #gmb".
John tweeted: "Is Letts actually trying to defend an MP for watching porn in Parliament and 'playing devils advocate'. #GMB" and @mento56 added: "Quentin Letts trying to justify watching porn in the House because it's "boring" Unbelievable!".
When returning after a short break, GMB presenter Ben Shephard, 47, was forced to issue some clarification following the outpour of messages. He said: "Just quickly because I feel like everybody's slightly got the wrong end of the stick Quentin as it were, a lot of people sort of seem to be up in arms that you were defending watching porn in the House of Commons, that's not what you were doing?"
"It wasn't quite what I was saying no," Quentin replied: "Never mind. I was trying to make the point that the House of Commons is a very boring place but you should not watch porn boys and girls".
Ben Shephard laughed before replying: "He was playing devil's advocate a little bit and certainly not suggesting that it was ok to do that, that is not the case at all".
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV and ITV Hub from 6am.
