Good Morning Britain was flooded with complaints after Richard Madeley questioned whether the death threats Keir Starmer faced were “that big a deal”.
The segment on the show sparked 850 Ofcom complaints after the host discussed the fall out of Boris Johnson making the Jimmy Savile smear aimed at Sir Keir Starmer.
Last Tuesday’s show saw Madeley discussing the Labour leader’s experience, explaining there are trolls who have been “calling for his execution” online which led the presenter to ask whether it was “that big a deal”.
There was also fury aimed at journalist Andrew Pierce for his response to Madeley’s question.
Madeley said: “Now, we learnt yesterday that Keir Starmer is getting death threats online; people calling for his execution...”
Pierce, interrupting, said: “Well, politicians get that all the time.” Before Madeley added: “I was going to say... is it that big of a deal?”
Pierce replied: “No.”
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed he received death threats following Mr Johnson’s slur.
The Labour leader said the Prime Minister’s attack had “fed into” a “right-wing conspiracy theory” and this had caused “difficulty”.
But he said he would rather not talk about the matter because he did not want his young children to hear “too much” of what may be said about him.
Asked if he had received such threats following Mr Johnson’s comments, Sir Keir said: “Yes. I do not like talking about this because I have got young children.”
The Standard has reached out to ITV for further comment.
