Eamonn Holmes was forced to issue an on-air apology after using a racial slur on GB News.
The broadcaster was interviewing former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona when he asked her if her facelift had left her looking “Oriental”.
Holmes, 65, hesitantly issued an on-air apology soon after, suggesting he didn’t realise the offensive term was unacceptable.
“Apparently, you’re not allowed to describe someone as looking Oriental,” he said, alongside his breakfast show co-host Ellie Costello.
“I don’t know how I would end up describing Kerry Katona if her eyes changed shape. I don’t know how I’m going to say, ‘Does she look like someone from some other country in the eastern [part] of the world.’”
Holmes, clearly unhappy with being made to apologise, added: “The world is ridiculous – how you have to apologise for people... I don’t know. I can’t get into this, but anyway.”
When an awkward Costello said, “But Kerry looks beautiful,” Holmes replied: “Kerry looks well. I’m sorry if you don’t look well or we have offended you in any way or... oh, I don’t know.”
The Independent has contacted GB News for comment.
His remark came during a discussion about plastic surgery in which Katona detailed a facelift she had in 2024.
“Are you happy with the eyes?” Eamonn asked Katona, who told him: “I had them done over a year ago now – it was making my eyes feel a bit heavy so I had an uplift.”
Holmes interjected: “And you don’t look Oriental or anything, do you?”
Holmes previously apologised when he compared the hair of medical expert Dr Zoe Williams to an alpaca on This Morning in 2021.
“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.
He apologised on X/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.”
Holmes joined GB News in December 2021 after his presenting role on chat show This Morning was axed by ITV.
In recent years, Holmes, who co-hosts a breakfast show on GB News, has suffered setbacks with his health, undergoing spinal surgery and a double hip replacement.
His health problems come amid a divorce from his wife Ruth Langsford. The former presenting couple, who departed This Morning in 2020, announced the news in 2024. They had been together since 1996.
Holmes has three children with his first wife, Gabrielle, whom he married in 1985. Their relationship ended in 1994. He began dating Langsford two years later, but the pair kept their romance private out of respect for Gabrielle.
After six years together, Holmes and Langsford had a son together and, in June 2010, they married at Elvetham Hall in Hampshire.
