Eamonn Holmes has apologised after comparing the hair of This Morning’s medical expert Dr Zoe Williams to an alpaca.
The presenter made the joke during Thursday’s (12 August) episode of the ITV morning show, suggesting that he’d like to “pet” Williams’s hair.
“Your hair reminds me of an alpaca today,” he said. “You just want to pet it, don’t you? It’s very alpaca-ish.”
Williams responded by laughing, but told him: “Don’t touch my hair!”
Viewers complained about the moment on social media, with many suggesting that Holmes, who is white, shouldn’t have made the comment about Williams, who is mixed race.
“Just a normal day on @ITV and @ThisMorning with Eamonn Holmes telling a woman of colour her hair ‘reminds him of an alpaca’,” wrote actor Alan Turkington. “Nothing to see here.”
“Making jokes about a black woman’s hair is never being ‘humorous’ especially when comparing it to an animal,” wrote another person. “Eamonn I appreciate you felt this was in good humour, but please do better.”
“She was laughing because she was embarrassed and didn’t know what else to say,” one person claim, of Williams’s response.
Holmes issued an apology on Twitter, writing: “Hey everyone out there, if my attempt at being humorous with my friend @DrZoeWilliams was misjudged I am mortified and humbly apologise to anyone who was offended.”
