Good Morning Britain (GMB) has apologised for omitting the word ‘Jews’ in its live coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day.
The ITV breakfast programme faced widespread outrage after presenter Ranvir Singh, introducing a segment on King Charles paying tribute at Auschwitz, said: “Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group.”
The substitution of the word “Jews” for “people” sparked indignation, with historians Simon Schama and Simon Sebag Montefiore calling the incident “staggering but not surprising” and an “idotic blunder”, amid widespread calls for the programme to be reported to broadcast regulator Ofcom.
Writing on Twitter/X, Sebag Montefiore added: “I find it extraordinary that this happened on Holocaust Memorial Day. I still don’t quite understand how anyone @gmb @itv – presenters writers producers – did not notice & protest that a report specifically on the day to commemorate the Holocaust – the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazis & allies – actually totally erased the Jews from the history in a TV package devoted to this subject. Nor was it ‘forgetfulness’ since both presenter @ranvir01 & reporter @NickDixonITV did the same. I literally wrote a post about Holocaust, the erasure & abuse of history in the afternoon and then saw this. Today rightly @ranvir01 has apologised.”
Screenshot: Twitter/X
The script omitting the word ‘Jews’ was repeated on subsequent bulletins.
On Tuesday, Singh issued an on-air apology, saying: “In yesterday’s news when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust, but crucially failed to say they were Jewish. That was our mistake, for which we apologise.”
Jewish News has approached GMB and ITV for comment.
