Channel 4 has been slammed as a 'smear merchant' for incorrectly captioning a video of a speech by Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister addressed an audience in Birmingham yesterday about his proposal for immigration controls that would ensure 'people of talent' are able to come to Britain.
However the broadcaster's subtitles in a video of the speech read 'people of colour' instead, causing the clip to be shared widely online.
Channel 4 has today apologised for the blunder, stating: "Boris Johnson says “people of talent” not “people of colour.” Our earlier tweet was a mistake.
"We misheard and we apologise".
However, senior members of the Conservative Party are not convinced by the mistake, with chairman James Cleverly tweeting: "Boris has used the phrase 'people of talent' many times during this election campaign in relation to our points based immigration policy."
The controversy has caused a storm on Twitter with users debating over whether or not Mr Johnson said colour or talent, with one posting: "Listen to this carefully - I think he says people of colour. Do you?"
Other Labour supporters recalled how the media had previously reported leader Jeremy Corbyn as saying "stupid woman" when he actually said "stupid people".
In the 23-second-long clip of the talk on immigration, Mr Johnson is captured saying: "We'll be able to do all sorts of things differently and better including controlling our immigration system for the first time in decades and that would be a good thing.
"I'm in favour of having people of talent come to this country but I think we should have it democratically controlled and have it done that way."
Even after Channel 4's apology, the debate over what was said continues on social media this afternoon.
