Ben Shephard was forced to clarify a guest's comments on the latest episode of Good Morning Britain after viewers complained. The presenter was back on the show on Thursday (April 28) after some time away.
He was joined by Ranvir Singh as his usual sidekick Kate Garraway takes a break after hosting the ITV news programme throughout the Easter holidays. Ben and Ranvir were joined in the studio by journalists Quentin Letts and Sonia Sodha.
The group were discussing the latest news headlines, including the unnamed MP who was allegedly caught watching pornography in the House of Commons on Wednesday (April 27). It is alleged that the Tory MP was watching adult content on his mobile phone while inside the chamber.
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Discussing the issue, Quentin told the show's hosts: "If I can just play devil's advocate for a second, I'd say if you've ever been in the House of Commons it's an extremely boring place. I think it would be wrong of viewers to think parliamentarians are constantly thinking about great matters at state when they’re in the House of Commons. It's not exactly like a church in there."
He continued: "The politicians tend to represent the people of the country and there are a lot of grotty people in this country who get a kick out of pornography, and it’s always struck me as a pretty peculiar thing to do."
But GMB quickly came under fire from viewers who were unimpressed with Quentin's comments. @Tidos6 tweeted: "WTF is Quentin on about trying to almost downgrade seriousness of the MP viewing Porn in the commons .. #GMB."
"Quentin Letts trying to justify watching porn in the Hous because it's 'boring' Unbelievable," @mento56 wrote.
@martleshamman complained: "An unbelievable response by Quentin Letts when asked about the MP watching porn!! Devil's advocate ffs."
Later on in the programme, presenter Ben was forced to address Quentin’s comments after viewers complained on social media. He said: "I feel like everybody slightly got the wrong end of the stick,’ Ben said. ‘A lot of people seemed to be up in arms that you were defending watching porn in the House of Commons. That’s not what you were doing..."
"That’s not quite what I was doing,’ Quentin replied. "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."
But viewers were still not impressed. @PaulStokes_ said: "If you have to make an announcement to clarify the guest wasn’t supporting watching porn in Parliament perhaps get rid of the guest? #gmb."
@Pifflestuff wrote: "Quentin and #GMB just read Twitter responses during the break."
